Nicole R. Fleetwood se zabývá uměním a masovým uvězněním. Její práce zkoumá, jak vizuální kultura reflektuje a formuje naše chápání vězeňství a rasové nespravedlnosti ve Spojených státech. Fleetwood analyzuje, jak umělecká díla a vizuální reprezentace odhalují sociální a politické důsledky tohoto systému. Její kritický přístup nabízí hlubší vhled do propojení umění, rasy a represí.
Nicole Fleetwood enters American prisons to explore the creativity flourishing there. Though isolated and degraded, incarcerated artists produce bold works that testify to the economic and racial injustice of American punishment. These pieces, many published here for the first time, offer a new vision of freedom for the twenty-first century.
Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the Justice System features work by artists from across the nation that addresses the criminal justice system, mass incarceration, and the prison-industrial complex. Representing the full range of contemporary art production made in the studio and the social realm, the exhibition includes artworks that take social justice issues as a subject matter; and position the prison and court systems as structures for dismantling through institutional critique. The artworks in the exhibition are extraordinary for the scale and ambition by which they mobilize in order to bring visibility to offenses within the justice system.