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James, Geoffrey
Cell decoration, Inuk inmate Décoration de cellule, détenu inuit
2013 2013

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University worked with Toronto artist Geoffrey James to develop a body of high quality photographs documenting and memorializing Kingston Penitentiary during its final period of operation. To this end, curator Jan Allen worked with Correctional Services Canada to gain access to Kingston Penitentiary under the supervision of Corrections staff in the spring and summer of 2013. The artist’s aim was to provide a record of the architecture and wider physical setting and to convey a sense of the lived experience of this legendary institution, the oldest prison in Canada. Geoffrey James believes that the best photography gives a sense of what it is like to be somewhere, that it has “a mnemonic power that no other medium has, [that is,] a power to recall things.”

James, Geoffrey
St. Asaph, Wales 1942 St. Asaph, Wales 1942
Cell decoration, Inuk inmate Décoration de cellule, détenu inuit
2013 2013
colour photograph on archival baryta-coated paper, 1/10 Épreuve photographique en couleur sur papier baryté, 1/10
53.3 x 35.6 cm (print); 55.9 x 53.2 cm (sheet)
Gift of the Artist, 2014 Don de l'artiste, 2014
57-023.11

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