‘Into Light’ Exhibit at Jacksonville State Sheds Light on Addiction, Honors Lives Lost

Jacksonville State University is hosting the ‘Into Light’ traveling art exhibit, featuring portraits of people who died from substance misuse, as part of Safety and Wellness Week.

Photo by Taylor Smith, The Anniston Star

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville State University is hosting “Into Light,” a traveling art exhibit from March 2-18 at Anders Hall’s Roundhouse.

The exhibit is being brought to campus in coordination with the university’s Safety and Wellness Week, scheduled for March 16-20. A reception will be held at 5 p.m. March 17 in the Theron Montgomery Building, where speakers from the organization will discuss the influence and history of the exhibit, according to Abbie Beatty, assistant dean of students.

“I have had a few students tell me that they would like to see more mental health programming on campus,” said Beatty.

University counseling services will also speak at the reception and information about available resources will be displayed to support students who might be emotionally impacted, according to Beatty.

The Into Light Project is a nonprofit organization that creates public exhibitions of up to 30 graphite portraits and stories of people who lost their lives to drug addiction. At the end of the exhibit, the family of the deceased will receive the original portrait, according to the organization’s website.

The organization was founded in 2019 by Theresa Clower after her son, Devin, lost his life from an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2018. According to Clower, the portraits serve as both a tribute and reminder that people are more than their addiction. Alabama Ambassador Traci Spain describes the project as “bringing the conversation of addiction out of the shadows, into light.”

Jacksonville State University is hosting the ‘Into Light’ traveling art exhibit, featuring portraits of people who died from substance misuse, as part of Safety and Wellness Week.

Photo by Taylor Smith, The Anniston Star

Jacksonville State University is hosting the ‘Into Light’ traveling art exhibit, featuring portraits of people who died from substance misuse, as part of Safety and Wellness Week.

“Each portrait is created with extraordinary care and detail, humanizing these individuals as full human beings — beloved sons, daughters, parents and friends,” said Clower.

At the exhibit in the Roundhouse, the portraits are displayed along the walls, some on easels. The youngest subjects, Charles Hawkins and Weston Brown, were only 19 years old when they died. Another portrait features Johnathan Tolbert, who had no prior history of substance misuse and was 27 when he died.

Jacksonville State University is hosting the ‘Into Light’ traveling art exhibit, featuring portraits of people who died from substance misuse, as part of Safety and Wellness Week.

Photo by Taylor Smith, The Anniston Star

Pamphlets about avoiding stigmatized language, information about fentanyl, and details about free naloxone and training for first responders and health care providers are available. The materials are provided by the Into Light Project and Project FREEDOM, an acronym for First Responder Expansion of Education and Distribution of Overdose Medication.

Into Light also provides portrait buttons as part of its button campaign, which aims to extend the project’s mission beyond the gallery. Visitors can wear an “Ask Me About,” button to encourage conversation about substance use disorder by scanning the QR code on the back, according to a poster displayed in the exhibit.

Jax State is hosting the traveling exhibit, Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories — Alabama, through Into Light’s program, Continuing the Conversation. Pam Jones, a mother involved in the project and Jax State alumni, helped bring the exhibit to the university. Her son, Daniel, is portrayed in the exhibit.

Jones helped start the process of bringing the exhibit to campus, as she and other parents in the Anniston and Oxford area wanted it displayed in Jacksonville, according to Spain. Beatty and Joshua Robinson, associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students, worked with Spain and Jones to bring the gallery to the region, according to Beatty.

Jacksonville State University is hosting the ‘Into Light’ traveling art exhibit, featuring portraits of people who died from substance misuse, as part of Safety and Wellness Week.

Into Light opened its Alabama exhibition in Mobile in August 2024, featuring portraits of individuals from all over the state. After closing in June 2025, reproductions of the original portraits were stored at the Addiction Prevention Coalition in Birmingham. Those reproductions are being displayed in the exhibit at Jax State, according to Spain. Previous showings of the Alabama exhibit were held in Huntsville and Greensboro, according to Spain.

“There’s a lot of families, one in particular, that never did get to go down to Mobile, and I’m sure she’s going to be really happy to be able to come to Jax State,” said Spain.

Spain emphasizes that the exhibit is not just for students, faculty and families, but also for the community. She hopes people such as law enforcement officers and EMTs can learn from it.

“They get so jaded, so it’s good if they can come in and be reminded of the human side to it,” said Spain.

The Into Light Project values community partnership and aims to ensure that people’s stories continue to be heard and seen, according to Clower.

“We envision this as an experience that resonates across disciplines, from nursing and social work to psychology, public health and the arts,” said Clower.