Most prisons and jails across the United States do not allow prisoners to have access to cameras. At a moment when an estimated 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., 3.8 million people are on probation, and 870,000 former prisoners are on parole, how can images tell the story of mass incarceration when the imprisoned don’t have control over their own representation? This exhibition addresses the unique role photography plays in creating a visual record of this national crisis, despite the increasing difficulty of gaining access inside prisons.

In conjunction with the exhibition Prison Nation, the Library Gallery presents Portrait Garden, a display of works by Lynn Cazabon, professor of visual arts and director of the Center for Innovation, Research and Creativity (CIRCA), in the Library Rotunda. Portrait Garden is a metaphorical garden of ‘portraits’ of eleven women incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, a multilevel security prison.

The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents Oletha DeVane: Spectrum of Light and Spirit, on display from September 22 through December 17. Featuring nearly 100 artworks, the exhibition is the first retrospective of celebrated Maryland artist Oletha DeVane, and traces the artist's extensive career, from her early paintings and works on paper to video artworks and interactive sculpture, including works on view for the first time.