Philadelphia, PA 

Mural Site: 229 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (The Berger Building, adjacent to the Betsy Ross House)

Artist(s): Russell Criag (lead artist) with design assistance by Irving Navarro

Atlanta, Georgia 

Mural Site: 97 Estoria, 727 Wylie St SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

Artist(s): Preston Townsend, Sarah Corely, Amiti Bey, Juan Alexander

Mural Partner: All of Us or None – GA,The Cabbagetown Initiative

All of Us or None is a grassroots organizing project of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, a civil and human rights organization, fighting for the rights of formerly-and currently-incarcerated people and their families. AOUON is fighting against the discrimination that people face every day because of arrest or conviction history. The goal of All of Us or None is to strengthen the voices of people most affected by mass incarceration and the growth of the prison-industrial complex. Through our grassroots organizing, AOUON building a powerful political movement to win full restoration of our human and civil rights.

The Cabbagetown Initiative Community Development Corporation (CICDC) is a 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation. The CICDC (also known as “CI”) was established by the Cabbagetown Neighborhood Improvement Association in 1999 to oversee the creation of a park in the heart of Cabbagetown. The Cabbagetown community has created an inviting, shared green space that promises to enhance the quality of life in the Cabbagetown community.

Austin, Texas 

Artist(s): Niz Graphics

Partners: Be Frank 4 Justice, CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery – Texas), Grassroots Leadership

Mural Partners:
Be Frank 4 Justice is a charitable organization founded in 2016, and incorporated March 2021 to increase access to legal support and bridge the gap for incarcerated individuals and their loved ones by providing support to overcome the traumatic impact of the carceral system.

CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery – Texas) is a non-partisan, community-led body of individuals and organizations created in 2020 with the singular goal of abolishing slavery in this country, starting with Texas. We are a member of the Abolish Slavery National Network (ASNN), a national coalition of statewide efforts to abolish slavery.

Grassroots Leadership is a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization based in Austin and Houston, Texas, fighting to end prison profiteering and reduce reliance on criminalization through direct action, organizing, research, and public education.

Houston, Texas 

Artist: Armando Castelan

Partners: Be Frank 4 Justice, CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery – Texas), Grassroots Leadership

Be Frank 4 Justice is a charitable organization founded in 2016, and incorporated March 2021 to increase access to legal support and bridge the gap for incarcerated individuals and their loved ones by providing support to overcome the traumatic impact of the carceral system.

CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery – Texas) is a non-partisan, community-led body of individuals and organizations created in 2020 with the singular goal of abolishing slavery in this country, starting with Texas. We are a member of the Abolish Slavery National Network (ASNN), a national coalition of statewide efforts to abolish slavery.

Grassroots Leadership is a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization based in Austin and Houston, Texas, fighting to end prison profiteering and reduce reliance on criminalization through direct action, organizing, research, and public education.

Jersey City, New Jersey 

Mural Site: 180 Newark Ave., Jersey City, NJ 7302 (Pending owner confirmation)

Artist: Must Art

Partners: End Slavery in NJ, Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAP)

Mural Partners:
Initiated in 2013 and funded by a Clean Communities Grant, the Jersey City Mural Arts Program is a Mayor’s Office Initiative that links established and emerging local, national and international mural artists with property owners city-wide as part of an innovative beautification program that reduces graffiti, engages local residents and is transforming Jersey City into an outdoor art gallery.

Los Angeles, California  

Artist: Fabian Debora

Partners: Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC), Homeboy Art Academy

Mural Partners:
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) works to end mass incarceration in California. To ensure our communities are safe, healthy, and whole, ARC empowers formerly and currently incarcerated people to thrive by providing a support network, comprehensive reentry services, and opportunities to advocate for policy change. Through our grassroots policy advocacy, we are dedicated to transforming the criminal justice system so that it is more just and equitable for all people.

A division of Homeboy Industries (HBI), Homeboy Art Academy (HAA) strives to extend the mission of providing hope, training, and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated youth and adults, by securing a space in which the Arts can be the central modality to healing and transformation. Homeboy Art Academy challenges systems of oppression by centering life experiences and cultural knowledge of impacted communities to inspire transformation and reclaim self-agency.

New York City, New York 

Mural Site: Pending

Artist: Pending

Partners: 13th Forward

Mural Partner:
13th Forward is a legislative coalition of advocates, grassroots organizations, and impacted people working to end exploitation and brutality within our prison labor system.
Formerly LaborIsLabor, 13th Forward was formed in 2019 by Worth Rises and the Legal Aid Society. Our steering committee is currently led by Citizen Action of New York, Color Of Change, The Legal Aid Society, and the New York Civil Liberties Union and A Little Piece of Light.

Project Partner: Worth Rises
Worth Rises is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it touches. They work to expose the commercialization of the criminal legal system and advocate and organize to protect and return the economic resources extracted from affected communities.

End the Exception Series 1 

The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except for persons “duly convicted” of a crime. As a result, those incarcerated in many states across the country are still subject to involuntary servitude. This three-part project, produced by Mural Arts Philadelphia and led by artist Phoebe Bachman in collaboration with Akeil Robertson-Jowers, aimed to elevate awareness of the Abolition Amendment on addressing mass incarceration.

During the first part of the project, Mural Arts worked Justice Arts Coalition to commission currently incarcerated artists to create drawings, collages, paintings, written or recorded descriptions about their labor. Artists were compensated for the right to exhibit their original contribution.

In the second phase, Phoebe Bachman and Akeil Robertson hosted a series of teach-ins about the 13th Amendment in DC, Florida, Louisiana, and California, and Pennsylvania. During these teach-ins they collected additional input from those who are impacted by state violence, weaving in their narratives of how the exception in the 13th amendment has impacted not only those inside but their families and entire communities. Participants walked away with hand-stenciled t-shirts and bags advocating for change.

The project culminated with an impactful public art installation at the People’s Plaza at Independence Historic National Park.

The third phase of the project centered on an impactful public art installation at the People’s Plaza at Independence Historic National Park. Within the exhibition, the effect of the exception clause was narrated through the collecteed drawings, paintings, and collages by currently incarcerated artists. Alongside these individual perspectives was a diagrammatic mural outlining the larger system of prison labor. Visitors could listen to audio recordings played through prison phone booths; the recordings stitch together a narrative of economic punishment that affects not just the incarcerated individuals, but their families and communities as well.

Several public programs that elaborated on the core themes were scheduled throughout the duration of the exhibition, including a film screening of Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison (Dir: Cinque Northern, 2022).