J O I N U S : D O C U M E N T A R Y M A T T E R S V I R T U A L
Photographing Incarceration Part 2
With photographers and writer from the Incarceration Issue of ZEKE Magazine
Monday, November 6, 2023 via Zoom
1:30–3:00 pm ET
Free and open to the public but registration is required.
Subscribe to the print edition of ZEKE and experience this outstanding photography beautifully printed on high quality paper that will adorn your bedside table, coffee table, or book shelf.
Photograph by Katherin Hervey and Massimo Berdetti from The Prison Within
Part 2 of Photographing Incarceration will feature four photographers and one writer from the Incarceration Issue of ZEKE.
The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, imprisoning 664 per 100,000 people. The problems within the system are vast but there is widespread agreement – regardless of one’s position on the need for prisons or not – that the 1.2 million prisoners in the US on any single day are suffering from overcrowding, poor or nonexistent health care, stifling heat during record heat waves, little or no efforts at rehabilitation, lack of education, restricted access to family, inadequate and unhealthy food, and record levels of violence by both guards and fellow detainees.
Speakers
Massimo Bardetti
Massimo is an experienced technologist with a focus on visual arts. He started his career in the TV and film industry where he worked in various positions to transition those mediums to the digital age. Later he led software teams at Microsoft, Amazon and smaller startups. He is the cinematographer and co-producer of the award-winning film "The Prison Within." He has a lifelong passion for photography.
Antoine Davis
Antoine Davis is a licensed minister at Freedom Church of Seattle currently incarcerated at Washington Correction Center, serving a 63-year sentence. His writing has been published in Counterpunch, The Appeal, Your Teen Magazine, and many other outlets. Follow Antoine on Twitter at @AntoineEDavis.
Katherin Hervey
Katherin Hervey is an artist and award-winning filmmaker interested in what is hiding in the dark crevices of the American landscape and collective psyches, believing truth is found in the dark before it shines in the light. Her first feature film, The Prison Within, won eight awards. A thought leader in criminal justice reform, Katherin has been featured in various media publications. Her mixed media artworks and creative fiction have been showcased in galleries and literary journals.
Peter Merts
Peter Merts’s photography spans documentary, portrait, and fine art forms and has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others. In 2015, Peter and Dr. Larry Brewster published Paths of Discovery—Art Practice and Its Impact in California State Prisons (second edition.) In Spring 2022, Peter published a monograph of his photographs as Ex Crucible: The Passion of Incarcerated Artists. An archive of his prison arts photographs can be found on www.petermerts.com.
Howard Zehr
Howard Zehr is Distinguished Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University, VA. He is internationally recognized as one of the founders and leaders of restorative justice and has been active as a professional photographer throughout his career. His publications include six photo books, including one on children whose parents are incarcerated, one highlighting Virginians and their pickup trucks, and The Little Book of Contemporary Photography, which presents a meditative approach.
Sponsor
