Slavery, the Prison Industrial Complex: Photographs by Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick

About

New Orleans natives Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick have been documenting African American life in Louisiana for more than 30 years. Since 1980, they have made regular visits to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola to photograph life on the prison farm, which was founded on the consolidated land of several cotton and sugarcane plantations. Their poignant, mostly black-and-white images record the exploitation of the men incarcerated within the maximum-security prison farm while also showcasing the prisoners’ humanity and individual narratives. Calhoun and McCormick use their cameras as tools for social engagement, reminding their audiences of persistent racial inequities, especially throughout the American criminal justice system.

The exhibition is accompanied by a hardcover book published by Lucia | Marquand that features 70 plates, a foreword by Dr. Deborah Willis, chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, a career overview by photography historian Dr. Susan H. Edwards, and an essay placing the images of Slavery, the Prison Industrial Complex in the context of other prison photographs by Dr. Makeda Best, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, Harvard Art Museums.