Today for the Penny Stamps Speaker Series we had Nigel Poor, a photographer and co-host of the podcast Ear Hustle, a podcast that is recorded inside the San Quentin Prison and tells the stories of what its like to be inside of prison. I especially liked the first half of her talk when she discussed her archival project—she found film photos from the 1950s from inside the prison and led a project where she gave the current inmates the photos to “map” them. Below are some of the works by the inmates.
I think I can borrow this idea for my IP. I can illustrate the archival images of Ann Arbor with information that talks about the history behind them, shaping the narrative. I think Poor and I shared a love of archival imagery. She said "Visual mysteries to be solved, the inmates interpret the images”.
She also spoke about how the images were often disturbing—murders and suicides within the prisons and how when she looked at them she saw them as images rather than experiences. She also said “They encompass the true experience of human condition”.
Someone in the q & a asked about the ethics of using people’s photographs without their permission. I haven’t thought about that before..She defended it by saying that the photos are property of California tax payers because they are the ones that funded the prison. Kind of similarly I pay tuition at U of M and I’m accessing these images from UM institutions, so therefore I’m free to use them.
