let us alone

came across this small gallery of found images from the arkansas state prison all dating from between 1914 and 1937. from the site: “second only to a coroner’s photographs of the newly dead, police and prison identification photographs are perhaps the least merciful and most democratic and anonymous photographs of all. The lighting is the same for everyone. The people being photographed have no interest in the photographs being made; the people making the photographs have no interest in the photographs they have made. There are no names on the prints, and the files connected with them were long ago put somewhere no one now remembers. All that remains of these prisoners from seventy, eighty and ninety years ago are these anonymous images.”

all of the images are evocative, sad, and a bit creepy, but i particularly liked the ones which have been obscured by time (below). they’re really beautiful and seem particularly fitting for their subject matter.





let us alone. time driveth onward fast,
and in a little while our lips are dumb.
let us alone. what is it that will last?
all things are taken from us and become
portions and parcels of the dreadful past.
let us alone. -tennyson, the lotus-eaters.

posted by jmorrison on 01/13 | lost & found | | send entry