For all of us detained at Guantánamo, making art was a lifeline. Why won’t Joe Biden let us keep our work? | Mansoor Adayfi

Art freed our minds and helped us survive. It cannot be right to argue that, even now, the fruits of our creativity belong to the state

• Mansoor Adayfi is CAGE's Guantanamo project coordinator, an artist, activist, writer and former Guantanamo prisoner

Last month, the Pentagon partially lifted the Trump administration's ban on the release of artwork made by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Prisoners will be able to take a practicable quantity of their art" if they are transferred out of the prison. It's unclear what practicable" means, and whether this ambiguous term means prisoners will only be allowed to take a small portion of the artwork they have created during years of captivity.

In Guantanamo, from the very beginning, we made art. We had nothing, so we made art out of nothing. We drew with tea powder on toilet paper. We painted our walls with soap, and carved Styrofoam cups and food containers. We sang, danced, recited poetry and composed songs. We were always punished for making art or singing.