“Echoes Behind the Wall” speaks to the voices of incarcerated people that continue to rise up against violence and invisibility. It reminds us that the demands made at Attica in 1971 calls for basic dignity, medical care, protection from abuse are still being made today. Their cries for freedom echo behind the walls of Green Haven, Mid-State, Bedford Hills, and Rikers.

“Fires at the Border” reflects the escalating attacks on migrants, asylum seekers, and stateless people. In 2025, we’ve seen mass deportations to El Salvador and the wrongful detention of people like Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland resident deported to a Salvadoran super-prison. This fire of repression and resistance spreads across borders. From ICE detention to prison strikes, it is the same system.

Our theme challenges us to see the connections between incarceration, colonialism, immigration enforcement, and global anti-Blackness. It calls us to an abolitionist vision that transcends borders, that refuses to forget the past, and that insists on a future where no one is locked in or locked out.