He said the idea was inspired by Dubai businessman Firoz Merchant’s initiative to secure prisoner releases during Ramadan.
Valentino Dixon Uses Art to Aid UAE Prisoners This Ramadan
Valentino Dixon knows firsthand what prison takes from a person.
This Ramadan, the American artist—wrongfully jailed for 27 years before being exonerated—plans to auction paintings he created while incarcerated, donating half the proceeds to help release debt-ridden inmates in the UAE.
The initiative, he said, was inspired by Dubai businessman Firoz Merchant’s prisoner release program, as reported by Khaleej Times on Friday.
“I don’t even know which authority I should contact yet,” Dixon told Khaleej Times. “But my intention is clear. I want the money to help someone get out. I know what that feels like.”
Embracing Islam
Dixon, 56, embraced Islam in 1999 and adopted the name Tariq Ramzan Abdullah, in honour of an imam who influenced him during his years in prison.
He was 21 when wrongly convicted of a fatal shooting in Buffalo, New York. Despite witness testimony and a confession from the real perpetrator, he was sentenced to 39 years and sent to Attica Correctional Facility.
While at Attica, Dixon drew for up to 10 hours a day. On one occasion, the prison warden asked him to sketch his favourite golf hole, even though Dixon had never played golf.
Over the next two decades, he created more than 300 golf course drawings, including eight of Dubai courses, such as Emirates Golf Club and Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club—landscapes he had only seen in magazines while confined to his cell.
Drawing to Freedom
Those drawings would ultimately change Dixon’s life. After Golf Digest featured his prison artwork in a widely read story questioning the integrity of his conviction, legal advocates took up his case. In 2018, he was exonerated and walked free after 27 years behind bars.
Today, his art commands significant value, with original works and commissions selling for tens of thousands of dollars, and some large-scale originals listed at up to $1 million.
He recently shared a photograph of himself presenting one of his golf drawings to former US President Bill Clinton, an artwork purchased by a prominent lawyer.
Earlier, Michelle Obama acquired one of Dixon’s golf drawings as a Christmas gift for then-President Barack Obama.
Dixon has also shared photographs of himself with golfing legends Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
“Drawing those courses kept me steady. They gave me peace,” he said.
In 2023, he traveled to Dubai as a special guest at the Dubai Desert Classic, visiting some of the very golf courses he had sketched while in prison.
“I left the US and went to Thailand for three months. Now I’m in Vietnam,” he said. “I’m just trying to find a country that gives me peace. I don’t plan on living in the US anymore.”
There is no bitterness in his voice.
“If I were angry, I wouldn’t have peace. Islam taught me that,” he added.
This Ramadan, he hopes his artwork can do for others what it once did for him.
“If half of what I sell can help someone walk out of prison, that would mean more than any price tag,” he said.
