Critics of the U.S. justice system and the country's prison industry often point to the amount of prisoners per capita. According to the World Prison Brief database, this is about five times more than in France and eight times more than in Sweden.
Former prisoner and artist Mark Loughney, with his pencil portraits of over 700 prisoners, wants to draw attention to what he considers to be one of the country's biggest problems. Of the 5.4 million people monitored by the U.S. justice system, 1.8 million are locked up, the rest are on parole or on probation.
"Unfortunately, this is not common knowledge. It's not something people think about, it's hardly talked about," says Mark Loughney.
The exhibition shows art by people who are or have been incarcerated and people who are critical of the prison industry. The exhibition's curator Nicole Fleetwood points out that it is not just about the amount of people but who it is who is incarcerated.
"There is a huge proportion of people from specific areas, such as Harlem. The system reproduces inequality and continues to impoverish already vulnerable communities outside the margins of society, says Nicole Fleetwood.