Disappearance Jail (series)
Disappearance Jail records the eventual erasure of carceral geographies in each of the 50 states within the US. Prints depicting current prisons, jails, and immigrant detention facilities across the US are obscured by perforations made with a hole puncher. Sourced from online archives, specialized databases, and satellite imagery, the images trace the visibility and obscurity of the carceral landscape itself. Through the repetitive gesture of perforation, the work enacts abolition materially and symbolically — rendering these sites vulnerable to disintegration through the slightest touch. Participatory community events, or “Punch Parties,” have taken place or are planned in Illinois, California, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, and Texas. Each state is perforated within its own borders by local community members, grounding the work in collective action, public memory, and social mending.
