美国大多数监狱和监狱不允许囚犯使用相机。At a moment when an estimated 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., 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? How can photographs visualize a reality that disproportionately affects people of color, and, for many, remains outside of view? This exhibition addresses the unique role photography plays in creating a visual record of this national crisis, despite the increasing difficulty of gaining access inside prisons.

自成年以来，摄影已被用来创造和加强犯罪类型的类型，通常会挑出特定的人群。如今，摄影师必须提供紧急的对立点，并超越对“犯罪”或被监禁的简单描述。Much of the work gathered here—from a recently discovered archive at San Quentin in California to portraits of prisoners participating in a garden program at Rikers Island in New York City or performing a passion play at Louisiana’s Angola prison, a facility located on the site of a former slave plantation—underscores the humanity and individuality of those incarcerated. Some projects explore the prison as an omnipresent feature of the American landscape, often serving as a local economic engine, or delve into the living conditions and social systems of prisons, while others address the difficult process of reentering society after incarceration. One series was produced in prison: Jesse Krimes made hundreds of image transfers with prison-issued soap while he served a five-year sentence.

监禁影响我们所有人。美国人，甚至那些从未去过监狱或相对被监禁的人，都涉及一种治理形式，该治理将监狱用作解决许多社会，经济和政治问题的解决方案。同理心和政治意识对于创造系统性变化以及通过本展览以及随附的一系列公共计划至关重要，监狱民族可能会激起我们在里面的人的生活中看到自己的一部分。

监狱国家由纽约Aperture基金会组织。

Nicole R. Fleetwood和Michael Famighetti，策展人。

光圈的监狱民族福特基金会的主要支持使展览成为可能。Reba Judith Sandler基金会提供了额外的慷慨支持。

Organized for the Davis Museum by Sonja Novak Koerner '51 Senior Curator of Collections and Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs Amanda Gilvin, this exhibition is presented at the Davis with generous support from the Mildred Cooper Glimcher '61 Endowed Fund, the Anonymous ’70 Endowed Davis Museum Program Fund, the Palley Endowment Fund for Davis Museum Outreach Programs, and Betty P. Rauch '65.