Call Me Ishmael is an invitation to speak, to listen, and to imagine together. Inspired by Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, the project gathers voices across prison walls and community spaces around a novel that has long asked what it means to survive, to belong, and to search for meaning in the face of overwhelming forces. We return to Melville’s words not to retell the story, but to rediscover ourselves within it.

Here, the white whale becomes a metaphor for the fears, obsessions, and struggles that shape our lives, while Ishmael—the lone survivor and storyteller—reminds us that narration itself can be an act of healing. Through writing, dialogue, movement, and theater, incarcerated and community participants become co-authors of meaning, transforming isolation into connection and silence into voice.

This project asks what it means to live together in difficult spaces, to confront authority and freedom, and to hold onto humanity in systems that often deny it. At its heart, Call Me Ishmael is about wounded healers—people who carry scars yet create possibilities for understanding, dignity, and change. It is a journey not across the sea, but across boundaries, where storytelling becomes a shared act of recognition and hope.