In 2014, Amy Elkins received the Aperture Portfolio Prize for two bodies of work concerning the death penalty. “Parting Words” is a series of black-and-white police mug shots of men and women who have been executed, overlaid with texts of their last words. For “Black is the Day, Black is the Night,” Elkins exchanged letters with death row prisoners, then creating images that reflect their experiences. Both series were exhibited at the Aperture Gallery in New York City last winter in a show that New York Magazine called a “must-see.” Elkins’s work is now showing at the Houston Center for Photography, through July 5, and will travel to Southern California later this year to be included in a group show about American prisons.