Carol Jacobsen
dal 16/11/2011 al 15/12/2011
Segnalato da
16/11/2011
Carol Jacobsen
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York
Mistrial. Selected and enlarged from the artist's own archive of original 8"x10" news photographs, the images displayed in large-scale photography and video installation document the arrests and murder trials of women in the early 20th century. Visually reminiscent of 17th century painting, some of the photographs emanate the delicate light of Dutch interiors, while others conjure the dramatic chiaroscuro of Italian Baroque portraits.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of
New York in collaboration with Denise Bibro Fine Art and Amnesty
International present Carol Jacobsen: Mistrial, on view from Octo-
ber 17- December 16, 2011, in the President’s Gallery on the sixth floor of
899 Tenth Avenue, NYC. Co-Sponsored by Amnesty International, the
exhibition encompasses a large-scale photography and video installa-
tion exploring issues of women’s criminalization.
Selected and enlarged from the artist’s own archive of original 8” x 10”
news photographs, the images displayed in Mistrial document the ar-
rests and murder trials of women in the early 20th century. Visually
reminiscent of 17th century painting, some of the photographs emanate
the delicate light of Dutch interiors, while others conjure the dramatic
chiaroscuro of Italian Baroque portraits. Accompanying each photo-
graph is its original news caption, as well as a brass plate engraved with
a judicial quote from a corresponding contemporary murder trial. The
eerie juxtaposition creates a poignant critique of concepts of justice and gender which persist through time.
The sense of temporality in the photographs is conveyed in the video installation through the spatial jour-
ney of the camera’s movement. The camera moves from the outside of a woman’s prison, and travels in-
ward, first depicting the circles of razor wire surrounding the prison, and finally ending deep inside the
darkest cells of the segregation unit. Narrated by women inmates, the video portrays an intimate and per-
sonal narrative, as well as a highly-charged political challenge to current punishment regimes.
Together, the images in the exhibition link the eras of the Wall Street crash, the Great Depression and the
recent global economic crisis, conveying a resonant sense of timelessness.
Jacobsen’s work has been shown internationally, and has been co-sponsored by Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch. She has received awards from National Endowment for the Arts, Women in
Film Foundation, Paul Robeson Foundation, and Art Matters. Jacobsen’s essays have appeared in Hast-
ings Women’s Law Journal, New York Law Review, Signs Journal, and Art in America. A professor at the
University of Michigan, she also directs Michigan Women’s Justice & Clemency Project, a grassroots effort
for freedom, human rights, and civil rights for women prisoners. She is represented exclusively by Denise
Bibro Fine Art.
Image: Mistrial 7 (detail), 2010, photography & engraved brass, 48” x 32”
For more information, or to request high resolution images, contact us at
212.237.8000, or visit our website www.jjay.cuny.edu.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice - President’s Gallery
899 Tenth Avenue - New York
Gallery hours are Monday-Fri- day from 9:00AM-6:00PM