Proliferation

Year completed 2009
Medium Video/Audio/Animation
Dimensions 11:30 Projected or Large Monitor

Art can tell stories. For years I would talk about injustice by reciting numbers and statistics. When you say, “We have over 2.3 million people in prison,” it’s a large number to comprehend.  Doing research at a prison issues-themed residency at the Blue Mountain Center in New York, I found some maps that I felt could help tell the story.  This project shows the proliferation of the US prison system if seen from a celestial point of view.  Using different colors to indicate different eras, the viewer can clearly see the astonishing growth of this system over time.

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Timeline:
Green Dots: 1778-1900
Yellow Dots: 1901-1940
Orange Dots: 1941-1980
Red Dots: 1981-2005

Credits:
Paul Rucker - Concept, Music Composition and Performance
Nathan Eyring - Animation

Aaron Bourget- Video Editing

Rose Heyer - Research

Troy Glessner - Music Mastering

Screenings:
Monroe Correctional Complex – Monroe, WA – Screening / Live Performance, 2011
Vermillion Gallery – Seattle, WA – 2011
Alcatraz – San Francisco, CA – Video Screenings and Live Performance, 2011
Nova School – Seattle, WA, 2010
The Stone – New York, NY – DVD Release, 2010
Cornish College of Art – Seattle, WA, 2009

Posters:
 



Special Thanks:

Blue Mountain Center- Prison Issues Residency

Fellow Activists of the Prison Issues Residency

Peter Wagner

Prison Policy Initiative

Prisoners of the Census

Washington State Arts Commission/Artist Trust Fellowship

Cornish College of the Arts
Jess Van Nostrand