Overview participating exhibitions
Cruel and Unusual
2012
Cruel and Unusual
Amy Elkins
BLACK IS THE DAY, BLACK IS THE NIGHT
The series conceptually explores masculinity, vulnerabilty and identity through correspondence with men serving life and deathrow sentences in some of the most maximum security prisons in the US. This picture is a portrait of a man having thus far served 19 years of a Life without Parole (solitary) sentence where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.
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BLACK IS THE DAY, BLACK IS THE NIGHT. 19/32 (Not the Man I Once Was)
The series conceptually explores masculinity, vulnerabilty and identity through correspondence with men serving life and deathrow sentences in some of the most maximum security prisons in the US. This picture is a portrait of a man having thus far served 19 years of a Life without Parole (solitary) sentence where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.
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BLACK IS THE DAY, BLACK IS THE NIGHT
The series conceptually explores masculinity, vulnerabilty and identity through correspondence with men serving life and deathrow sentences in some of the most maximum security prisons in the US. Portrait of a man having thus far served 13 years out of a deathrow sentence, where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.
Biography
Amy Elkins (US,1979) was born and raised in Southern California. She studied photography in California, New Orleans and New York, where she received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC.
Her photographs explore notions of vulnerability, identity and transitory states. Elkins’ earlier work, Wallflower, looked into the nuances of gender identity and the male psyche.
In her more recent work, Elkins turns to the more aggressive, competitive and violent aspects of male identity through projects Elegant Violence, looking to young Ivy League rugby athletes moments after their game and Black is the Day, Black is the Night, which conceptually explores masculinity, vulnerabilty and identity through correspondence with men serving life and deathrow sentences in some of the most maximum security prisons in the US.
