Lifers by Artist Mary Dewitt

A picture speaks a thousand words.  Marie Scott’s portrait, however, is captioned by less than 40 words, though her voice, literally and figuratively, speaks volumes.  Hers is one of many voices, many volumes of women in prison serving life in prison, as portrayed in the work of Philadelphia artist Mary DeWitt.

Dewitt ‘s work and the respective exhibition, “Lifers…” is coming to the Lebanon Valley Council on the Arts on August 7, 2015,  hosted by the Female Offenders Re-Entry Program of Lebanon County (F.O.R.E.), and will be on view during the month of August.   This moving and captivating display of personal stories, whether sentence-related commentaries and or emotional representations of life behind bars, is worth a visit.

Whether you believe in punitive measures that include life in prison, death sentences or your views fall on the other side and include opportunities for commutations, the exhibition has the power to evolve perspectives.  Hardly a viewer can be unmoved or fail to contemplate the Commonwealth’s penal practices without feeling the humanity painted in every stroke of these works. 

Donna Gathright, president of F.O.R.E., first heard about DeWitt through another venue hosting this series, and knew immediately she had to find a way to bring this exhibit   to a local audience.  “When you hear stories about children being hungry, or women being abused, it’s easy to immediately feel their pain and want to respond.  When someone reads about a woman convicted of a crime and serving life in prison, most people think ‘You got what you deserved.’ What they don't realize is that when children are hungry, women are in abusive relationships and desperate, sometimes they commit crimes that have far-reaching impact.  Not all of these women are faceless or voiceless; some of them are just like us.”

Price: FREE