How photographs portray the crisis of incarceration in the US.
Most prisons and jails across the United States do not allow prisoners
to have access to cameras. At a moment when 2.2 million people are
incarcerated in the US, 3.8 million people are on probation, and 870,000
former prisoners are on parole, how can images tell the story of mass
incarceration when the imprisoned don't have control over their own
representation? Organized with the scholar Nicole R. Fleetwood, an
expert on art's relation to incarceration, the Spring issue of
Aperture magazine addresses the unique role photography plays in
creating a visual record of a national crisis.
"Prison Nation" will be accompanied by a related exhibition from
February 7 through March 7, 2018, as well as a series of six public
programs--featuring speakers such as Nigel Poor, Jamel Shabazz,
Deborah Luster, Bruce Jackson, Jesse Krimes, Sable Elyse Smith, Joseph
Rodriguez, and more--all to take place at Aperture Foundation's
gallery.