Within incarceration, endeavors of creative problem-solving are commonplace, as inventive substitutions replace ordinary items deemed to be contraband. In the absence of thread, the C4C artists twisted their own from strips of paper (access to which is a privilege in its own right as LMDC is now a paperless facility), enabling them to stab-bind books, even piercing their pages with golf pencils rather than awls. As such, the tedious nature of these artworks imbues each hand-fabricated element with the collective investment and intentionality of a shared goal.

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In some cases, the materiality of this carceral environment served as both medium and subject matter. Utilizing found-object frottage, prints, and assemblages, these artworks both record and transfigure the mundanity of incarceration. One such work, a "quilted" amalgamation of milk cartons, intertwines a carceral material with a domestic form, conflating the discomfort of jail with the comfort of home. Six days a week, these artists received cartons of milk with their breakfast trays. Six days a week, these artists saved, cleaned, disassembled, and tore down those cartons by hand. Each "quilt square" utilized four altered cartons, requiring a cumulative 96 for its fabrication, however, this total is disingenuous to the time and labor spent on their process. This metric alone cannot account for the numerous cartons thrown out or destroyed during dorm relocations and shakedowns. The true number of found objects required to build even this singular artwork cannot be known because of the conditions inherent to its construction.