Mary DeWitt

Mary DeWitt will create a hand-made tile mural to be installed in West Philadelphia that highlights the life and testimony of Cyd Berger, an incarcerated woman who has been serving a life without partole sentence for the last 43 years. This mural, and the creation of a  surrounding community garden, known as the "Pardon Garden", will act as a space ofboth healing and action to spark conversations around mass incarceration.

Mary DeWitt (ACG ’09, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18; LTA ’10; WOO ’22) has been invited to attend Let’s Get Free’s event in Pittsburgh, to speak and distribute posters championing the release of Cyd Berger from her life without parole sentence at SCI Cambridge Springs. Having worked with Cyd Berger since 1988 to bring visibility to her case, Mary is particularly close with Cyd and hopes this opportunity will build pressure on the PA Board of Pardons while also connecting her with further people and networks aimed at ending mass incarceration. This grant will support with travel, accommodations, and finishing funds for poster printing. 

Mary DeWitt and Paulette Carrington will collaborate with the congregation at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral in September 2018 to lead tours of Mary’s portraits of life-sentenced women. Paulette, who is the second woman released in Pennsylvania sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile, has known and lived with these women for decades. Paulette, whose portrait is also on view, will talk about the effects of growing up in prison and her relationships with these women while leading tours of Mary’s paintings. Reparation for Incarceration will provide an opportunity for the visiting public to deepen their awareness of the serious crisis facing not just these women portrayed, but the larger community and nation.

Mary will paint, fire, and install a tile mural portrait of Paulette Carrington in Philadelphia. An accompanying narrative will describe Paulette's case and her sentencing, at the age of 16, to 40 years of life without parole in Pennsylvania. More juvenile lifers are sentenced to life without parole in Philadelphia than any U.S. city. Paulette hopes to use the site of the tile portrait as a place to gather and share her experiences and struggle.

Mary will create portraits of two African American women who are currently serving life without parole in Pennsylvania. The portraits will be accompanied by videos in which the viewer will witness the painting process and hear the voices of the women sharing information about their lives and experiences in prison. In the summer of 2016, the portraits and videos will be displayed at the Painted Bride Art Center with the goal of illustrating the toll incarceration has taken on these women and their loved ones. These portraits will both humanize these women and bring visibility to the systematic injustice of mass incarceration. 

Mary will paint portraits and record the oral histories of Teri Smallwood and Rose Dinkins, women who have each served over 40 years of a life sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy. Documenting Rose and Teri’s longstanding friendship will provide insight into issues surrounding life in prison, the specific effects on women who are incarcerated, and the injustices that send people to prison to begin with. With the recent legal assistance from the Innocence Project, Teri got out on bail and is awaiting trial, and Rose is in prison without the companionship of her best friend. Mary believes this project will support both women on a personal level and contribute toward the struggle to end mass incarceration.

Mary is a painter who focuses on women who are serving life sentences in Pennsylvania prisons. Her intention is to bring visibility to these women, reinstate their humanity, and expose the legal injustices they have suffered as well as the harsh sentence of life without parole. She has known the individuals with whom she works since the late 1980’s and is wholeheartedly committed to fighting the censorship imposed on them and share their stories. Mary believes that women serving life sentences are among the most invisible, abused, and misunderstood people in our society. Her practice consists of taking digital photographs during the development of her painted portraits, putting the photos together in motion picture format, and accompanying them with the voices of her subjects. Text narrative is often included in these video, giving the viewer deeper insight into each woman’s crime and incarceration experience. The result is a dynamic and engaging portrait video that accomplishes more than the static, finished paintings alone can do. She hopes to expand her practice to document the work that these women have done with Canine Partners for Life, a program whereby incarcerated individuals train puppies to be service animals for people with disabilities. Mary’s goal is to inspire the viewer to reconsider the way that our culture demonizes prisoners across the board and to illuminate the lives of real women who have been affected by the state’s unique sentencing rules.

Mary will visit seven life-sentenced women at SCI Muncy and SCI Cambridge Springs to paint their portraits and record their voices. The finished work will be exhibited at the Painted Bride Art Center (September-October 2010) and on her website. Through this project, which is a continuation of a body of work she’s been developing for many years, Mary will bring wider visibility to the lives of this hidden population of women, and raise public awareness of life-sentencing laws unique to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the impact on those incarcerated, their families, and the community-at-large. Mary has known most of these women for over a decade, and she is passionate about bringing their stories to the public using real faces and voices, as a way of exploring the long-term consequences of life-sentences without parole that are not often articulated.

Installation of a tile mural portrait focusing on incarcerated women serving life sentences. Mural installed in West Philadelphia. Support towards materials.

Support for materials and technical assistance with a majolica tile mural project with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program in late spring/early summer 2000.