ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Art surrounds Sherrill Roland before he even enters the doors to his own exhibit at the Asheville Art Museum.

“To be able to showcase all the work that I’ve done over the last five years here has been, you know, a tremendous honor, to put it in front of my family,” Roland said.

In 2012 as a graduate student at UNC Greensboro, one day Roland’s life took a sharp turn.

“I was made aware that by a law official in Washington, D.C., where I’ve never lived, traveled through but never lived, that I had a warrant out for my arrest there,” Roland said.

Roland traveled to Washington on the first day of classes to clear his name.

“It started out very severe, four felonies. They never produced any witnesses, or evidence, so I thought it would be over and I never got indicted for a jury trial. But then they lowered it to four misdemeanors, went straight to trial, expedited trial in D.C. I lost that,” he said.

He was sentenced to 13 months in jail. Although his time was reduced for good behavior, Roland ultimately served 10 months and 2 weeks in jail for crimes he never committed.

He fought for a year and a half to be exonerated.

“I got exonerated and everything was wiped clean, except for the experience on me. All of the emotional and mental rollercoaster ride that I’ve been on through that. Having things taken away from me… new things being introduced into my life,” he said.

Two of his grandmothers died and his daughter was born.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, there have been 3,288 exonerations since 1989.

Now, Roland uses art, like The Jumpsuit Project, as a way to process and share his experience across the country.

In 2016, he returned to UNC Greensboro to finish his master’s.

“The Jumpsuit Project itself came from me recognizing my anxieties that I had when my body came back on campus,” Roland said.

“This was the only way that I knew how to express what I was dealing with, the things that were going on in my mind and with my body,” Roland said. “This [project] was all for me. This was all for me trying to figure out what was going on for me so I could figure out a way to live again after this traumatic experience.”

Learning to live with his disrupted past is an ongoing process, he says.

“This experience isn’t something that I get over. It’s something that I kind of have to live with and get through it,” Roland said.

But he says leaning on community like his family and friends helps.

“I feel like a survivor for this instance, because there are a lot of people who are in this situation who don’t have the same outcome and even if they do have this outcome, they don’t have the ability to find a place, the way I’ve found in art, to express the experience, to get over or get through that trauma,” Roland said.

Roland says he wants others to check prejudices they may have about incarcerated people, educate themselves about basic laws and civil rights and learn about the business side of the criminal justice system, in order to always have a fair fight.

The last day to see the Roland exhibit at the Asheville Art Museum is Monday, March 20.