About the Work

From the Artist

This print, "Miss Otis," was done as a part of a series of works on paper that feature the problems of incarcerated women. The subject is important to many groups, since when women are jailed they are at the mercy of guards and are often raped.  Women in prison have babies in jail or leave children motherless on the outside.

This is a worldwide problem that Miss Otis just touches on. She inhabits a character, a lovely song which describes her shooting her lover dead and then being hanged by a mob. I wanted her to be beautiful, thoughtful, and very painfully sad.
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records}