Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Prison Break!



If you've never checked out Pete Brook's Prison Photography because of its first name, you've really shortchanged yourself when it comes to the latter- as can be clearly seen in just these two recent posts. He now plans to take his show on the road- that is, perform the necessary footwork to give us a more accurate representation of what occurs behind prison walls, how that information is collected, interpreted and presented, and how it ultimately affects... us. And even if you don't have the slightest interest in such issues- you damn well should, simply because it affects all our lives, personally and collectively, whether you wish to acknowledge it, or not.

Ultimately, most of those incarcerated will be back within society- that being fact, isn't it in everyone's best (ie- own, selfish, self) interest, that we do at least the minimum of what's necessary to have them help themselves transition back into society? Forget moral considerations- it strikes me as pure common sense, if not outright self preservation.

I won't attempt to highlight and describe all that Mr. Brook will be attempting to achieve in this most ambitious of Kickstarter projects- please, take the time to have him explain it himself. It's a project very much steeped in photographic tradition and possibility that stands to reap an impressive bounty of work and information (visual and otherwise) that can help make we the public that much more aware of a purposely hidden world whose gravity so greatly affects our own.

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