Halim Flowers was born in Washington, DC in 1981 and raised in one of the city’s most challenging neighborhoods. At just 16 years old, he was arrested and charged as an accomplice to a felony murder—despite not being present at the scene. Halim was sentenced as an adult, receiving two life sentences. His experience as a child in the prison system was later chronicled in Kim Kardashian’s The Justice Project and Emmy Award-winning Thug Life in DC.
Even in confinement, Halim had a deep love for language. He began with freestyle rap, but over time his expression evolved into poetry. Writing became his way of processing and articulating the trauma of growing up in DC during the crack epidemic and surviving prison.
In 2016, DC legislators passed the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act, which allowed individuals convicted as minors who had served at least 20 years to petition for resentencing and potential release. In 2019, after more than two decades behind bars, Halim was granted his freedom. Just one week later, Halim shared his poetry at an American University and Deloitte event—and he knew he had found his voice. Halim used the spoken word to advance his mission to promote love among all humans and to express his ardent support for human rights.
His passion for words soon expanded to visual art. Inspired by the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Halim began translating his experiences onto canvas. His vibrant, textured pieces are layered with color and raw life experience.
Halim has been recognized with several prestigious honors, including the Halcyon Arts Lab Fellowship and the Echoing Green Fellowship. He has delivered a TEDx Talk on criminal justice reform and is a beneficiary of Georgetown University’s Prison and Justice Initiative, where he has studied Government, Philosophy, Reparations, and English. He was part of the Museum of Modern Art’s Exhibit Marking Time— Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration. He received a grant from Agnes Gund’s Art for Justice Fund and was featured as a Justice Ambassador in the 2020 film Halim’s Hope. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice and Cultural DC and was just selected to be an Obama Foundation 2025-2026 Leader.
Today Halim’s works are exhibited around the world including Paris, Dubai, Liechtenstein, Ibiza, Cleveland, New York, Washington, DC, Palm Beach and Boston.
