Bearing the same title, each painting within this series of portraits centers upon a female detainee who wears the anguish of imprisonment upon her face. Applying the elements of Expressionism, the artist masterfully exaggerates color and manipulates proportions to echo the distorted—and dystopian—realities of life in prison. By contrast, the amplified use of light and shadow is concentrated almost exclusively upon each woman’s face, which—as a consequence—creates depth and feeling that poignantly convey the raw, unyielding anguish that confinement evokes.

Inji Efflatoun (1924-1989) was an Egyptian painter and activist, and is now considered to be among the country's most influential artists. She was arrested in Cairo in 1959—during then-president Gamal Abdel Nasser's crackdown on communists—under a decree empowering authorities to detain women engaged in political activism. Imprisoned for five years, Efflatoun sought refuge in painting throughout her sentence, producing many pieces that reflect upon and capture the daily struggles and harsh conditions of life in detention.