Hofstra University Museum of Art: Hidden in Sight: Photographing Incarceration

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Danny Lyon (American, born 1942), The line, 1968, 2011, gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in., Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.87 © Danny Lyon, New York & Magnum Photos, New York

August 14, 2018-March 10, 2019 | David Filderman Gallery

CURATOR’S STATEMENT The United States has the highest rate of incarceration of any country in the world, with over 2 million people currently imprisoned. The number more than triples if post-incarceration controls such as probation and parole are included. The prison population is growing at an exponential rate, especially for women and people of color. While the numbers are staggering, the individuals who make up these statistics are often forgotten. The impulse to make these invisible populations not only visible, but human, connects the three artists in this exhibition.

Danny Lyon (American, born 1942), one of the pioneers of imbedded documentary photography, spent a year in Texas photographing the men incarcerated in its state prisons. His photographs from the late 1960s of dark-skinned bodies in tattered clothes, dripping with sweat, toiling in fields under an unforgiving southern sun, on first glance appear to be from a century earlier, and expose the brutal history of prison slave labor in this country. As this practice not only continues but thrives throughout American prisons, Lyon’s photographs are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago.

Jessica Earnshaw (Canadian, born 1983) similarly spent time at the state prison in Maine following another growing prison population, the elderly. In her work, she seeks to investigate the realities of life sentences by profiling certain inmates who have come to terms with spending their last living days behind bars. Isadora Kosofsky (American, born 1993) captures the effects of incarceration not only on the inmates but on those left on the outside, especially children. Her series, Still My Mother, Still My Father, focuses on special visiting days at prison facilities in Florida in which incarcerated parents and their children are allowed to touch and embrace more freely than usual in prisons.

Spanning more than 50 years, the photographs by these three artists highlight the varied critical issues within the prison system in America.

Within prison, cameras are not viewed as a means of art making but rather utilized for control and constant surveillance. The men and women in these photographs generously and bravely trusted artists from the outside with the control of their image, which is a testament to each artist. Their work not only brings awareness to an often opaque problem, but also undermines the entire criminal justice system by presenting prisoners as human first and inmate second.

KRISTEN RUDY Collections Manager Hofstra University Museum

CHECKLIST OF THE EXHIBITION

DANNY LYON (American, born 1942) All works © Danny Lyon, New York & Magnum Photos, New York Danny Lyon is a pioneer of New Documentary photography, an approach that was overtly subjective and sought to make marginalized populations more visible. Rather than take on assignments from newspapers and magazines, which tended to provide a more objective – or worse, sentimental – view, Lyon favored creating his own photo-books. In this way, he was able to control not only the visual content but also the contextualizing words.

In 1971, Lyon published his Texas prison photographs in the book Conversations with the Dead, and included text and artwork by inmates with whom he had become close. His book was so prescient that it was digitally remastered and republished by Phaidon in 2015.

When Lyon began photographing at the Texas Department of Corrections in late 1967, the national prison population was 250,000. A little more than 50 years later, that population is more than 2 million. As usual, Lyon was years ahead in his activism, identifying in the late 1960s the crisis of American prisons. Upon entering the prisons, Lyon immediately discovered the direct roots of American incarceration to slavery. For instance, the prisoners were segregated, but, moreover, all inmates waited on the officers and guards as servants. They worked the prison farm for little or no money, a situation made legal by the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery except for those “duly convicted of crime”– effectively making prison slave labor legal.

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Entering prison, two years for burglary, ten years for robbery, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.86

Weight-lifters, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print. 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.93

1 The line, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.87 The line, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.88 2 Meal line, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.89 3 Heat exhaustion, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.90 Hoe squad, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.91 Cell block, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.92

Education department, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print. 14 x 11 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.94 Forty-five years, robbery, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.95 Clearing land, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.96 Young boss, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.97 Convicts being transported in wagons to work, 1968, 2011 Gelatin silver print,11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Peter and Susan Chatzky, HU2016.98 Shakedown before returning to the building, 1968, c. 1980 Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Jon and Nicky Ungar, HU2009.8.1

JESSICA EARNSHAW (Canadian, born 1983) All works courtesy of and © Jessica Earnshaw Jessica Earnshaw’s intimate portraits bring dignity and display her earnest care to men and women who are part of two overlooked populations: inmates and the elderly. Just as Danny Lyon gained the trust of and collaborated with the prisoners of Texas, Earnshaw spent 12-hour days following four specific inmates: Albert, 82 years old; Robert, 70 years old; Norma, 76 years old; and Steven, 63 years old. They each have decades left on their sentences, and are coming to terms, in different ways, with the inevitability of dying in prison.

With her photographs, Earnshaw investigates the preponderance of life sentences within the American criminal justice system. As her subjects face life sentences, some for violent offenses, her work questions whether the person who committed a crime in their 20s is still the same person 30 or more years later.

There is no simple solution to the crisis of mass incarceration, and by including inmates who have been convicted of violent crimes, rather than focusing on nonviolent drug offenders, Earnshaw asks the viewer to think critically about the mission of prisons as sites of rehabilitation and the need to evaluate real threats to public safety. Currently, about 10 percent of the prison population is 55 or older, and that number is expected to increase to one-third by 2030, while the criminal activity of that age group continues to decrease.

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4 Albert, 82 years old, through his cell window is about to be locked into his cell for the night. As a security guard makes a round of the premise. Albert grew up in foster care from the age of 3 to 9 years old, and he’s been in and out of prison since he was 16. “If I wanted something in life at 3 years old I had to take it, if I needed food I had to take it, if I wanted a drink of water I had to take it. It wasn’t given to me, you know.” 2015 Archival pigment print, 11 x 14 in.

5 Prisoners walk to the lunchroom at Maine State Prison in Warren, Maine.

This “mass movement” is part of a coordinated dance every prison carries out as staff tries to ensure population blocks move safely to meals, rec time, and back again.

Every few weeks a new set of adult dogs and puppies come into Maine State Prison. These dogs are from shelters. The men share their cells and train them, in order to give them a better shot at being adopted. 2016 Archival pigment print, 11 x 14 in.

Robert, a 70-year-old convicted murderer, looks out his cell window. Robert travels to the prison medical four times daily for medical treatment – and also spends his time mentoring younger prisoners who have come in with drug addictions, this is something he is very passionate about. 2016 Archival pigment print, 14 x 11 in.

Nearly one of every six prisoners in Maine is over the age of 50. Memory loss, chronic illness and physical disability have become challenges for staff at Maine State Prison, who have to balance accommodating for those prisoners while maintaining prison operations. 2016 Archival pigment print, 14 x 11 in.

Norma, 76 years old, has been in prison for 14 years and has never had a visitor.

She was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill her husband, a case that remained unsolved for 20 years.

Inside, younger women have adopted her as a mother and grandmother. Most of these women are there for drugs and have led traumatic lives. Norma encourages them to do better – to sign up for classes or earn their GEDs – so they can leave prison with something more than they brought in. 2016 Archival pigment print, 11 x 14 in.

6 Steven, 63 years old, tries his best to stay healthy in prison. He works out daily, in the warmer months runs the prison track, and buys his food from the commissary in order to avoid the prison food. 2016 Archival pigment print, 11 x 14 in.

For more information about Earnshaw’s project and to hear from her subjects directly, follow @aginginprison on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ aginginprison/

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ISADORA KOSOFSKY (American, born 1993) All works courtesy of and © Isadora Kosofsky As more and more adults are incarcerated, another hidden population 2 the children of incarcerated grows: parents. In 2010, 2.7 million children in the U.S. had an incarcerated parent, and it is estimated that 10 million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. Isadora Kosofsky’s photographs document special bonding visits between children and their incarcerated parents through the Florida-based organization Children of Inmates. During a typical prison visit, no physical contact is allowed, and inmates are often shackled or behind thick glass, or more commonly now visited remotely via “tele-visits.” These visits can be not only traumatizing to a child but destructive to the essential bond between parent and child.

However, the quarterly bonding visits facilitated by Children of Inmates allow incarcerated parents to interact directly with their children in an attempt to restore the parent/child relationship that is often lost through incarceration.

Moments on the outside that might be taken for granted hold a weighted poignancy within these prison visits, and Kosofsky’s photographs capture that significance. In her series Still My Mother, Still My Father, Kosofsky captures moments of joy and grief between children and parents who, in some cases, may never see each other outside the walls of a prison.

For more information about Kosofsky’s ongoing work with Children of Inmates, visit her website: http://www.isadorakosofsky.com/albums/ parent-child-visits/

7 Arnaldo, age 28, kisses his son Joseph, age 4, at the Okeechobee Correctional Institution, 2016 Digital pigment print, 16 x 20 in.

Boys sit in the recreation yard at Lowell Correctional Institution where their mothers are incarcerated, 2017 Digital pigment print, 16 x 20 in.

7 Angel, age 4, and Caleb, age 7, stand in front of the Christmas tree at Hernando Correctional Institution where their mom, Mary, is incarcerated, 2016 Digital pigment print, 16 x 20 in.

9 Caleb, age 7, whispers in his mom, Mary’s, ear during a visit at Hernando Correctional Institution, 2017 Digital pigment print, 16 x 20 in.

8 The Johnson family poses for a photograph taken by an inmate photographer at Everglades Correctional Institution, 2016 Digital pigment print, 16 x 20 in.

Eric cries after a visit with his daughter and son, 2016 Digital pigment print, 16 x 20 in.

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For further information and resources regarding mass incarceration, please visit: National Resources: www.justleadershipusa.org/ www.sentencingproject.org/ www.themarshallproject.org/ www.vera.org/ Local Resources: www.afj-ny.org/ www.newhourli.org/

Funding has been provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.