Mary DeWitt Painting
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April 29, 2025
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The Pardon Garden will be the site for an exhibition/collaboration with Swarthmore College students, faculty, Paulette Carrington and five women who have endured over forty years of life without parole.
Hand-made and high-fired tile mural portraits of Betty Heron and Cyd Berger, 2024. Both were sentenced to life in 1982 and 1980 respectively. Severely battered women, they have endured over 40 years of incarceration. Victims' families continue to object to their freedom.
The portrait of Rose Dinkins is on the right. Dinkins has been incarcerated since 1972, 52 years. She describes how she and Sharon Wiggins, left, now deceased, grew up and grew old together in prison. This tile portrait of Rose Dinkins is a duplicate, made in 2002. Funded by Leeway Foundation, the original is installed on 44th and Locust Streets in West Philadelphia.
This portrait was painted in 2003, with narrative added in 2024. Sharon Wiggins, beloved by staff, prisoners and anyone who was fortunate to know her, died in prison after applying for commutation 13 times. A video of her describing her grandmother's memory can be viewed here.
Cyd Berger, hand-made 6"x6" tile, 2022