From Our Archives: Amy Elkins
Amy Elkins, Karla Tucker, Execution #145, Age 38.
This interview was originally featured in Issue No. 16 — Chaos.
MUSÉE MAGAZINE: What are your thoughts on the death penalty? What drew you to this topic?
AMY ELKINS: I think it is a flawed system. It is expensive, there is little proof it works to deter crime and since 1973, more than 150 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. In addition, over a dozen cases have surfaced where there was very strong evidence of innocence for individuals after their executions took place.
I didn’t gravitate towards this topic in the most direct way. I was doing research for a photo series about masculinity and violence. In a roundabout way I stumbled across a website that featured profiles of inmates in prisons throughout the country who were looking for penpals. There were search options that included searching only for inmates serving life sentences or the contrary, serving death row sentences. I, like many, had never really been confronted with these types of realities. I wasn’t entirely sure what would unfold, but eventually I decided to open a PO Box and write to some of these men. That correspondence went on for several years and turned into the project Black is the Day, Black is the Night. Parting Words came out of that project.
Amy Elkins, Ignacio Cuevas, Execution #39, Age 59.
MUSÉE: Why did you choose the Texas penitentiaries? Did you ever visit them?
AMY: I didn’t work solely with Texas institutions. I wrote to men serving life and death row sentences in maximum security prisons in California, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas. The project was done entirely through written correspondence (BITDBITN) and online resources (Parting Words).
MUSÉE: How did you gain access for obtaining the portraits and information from the penitentiaries?
AMY: All of the information that I used to create Parting Words was easily obtainable online and in books.
Amy Elkins, Clockwise Clifford Boggess, Execution #153, Age 32; Martin Vega, Execution #167, Age 52; David Gibbs, Execution #230, Age 39; Jason Massey, Execution #245, Age 28.
MUSÉE: How many portraits have you completed so far? What was the criteria for choosing the people you showed?
AMY: I have created 537 portraits for the series Parting Words. There is no criteria or selection process other than that with Parting Words I am working solely with those who were executed in Texas, the state with the most active death penalty in the country. I worked in chronological order from the first execution that took place after the death penalty was reinstated until the most current execution that has taken place.
MUSÉE: I’m very curious about how you layered the parting words over the portraits. How did you accomplish this?
AMY: After months/years of collecting the data and archiving it in a way that was all easily accessible and in chronological order, the images were then processed through an algorithm that converted each grayscale mugshot into text. The hardest part was retrieving the in- formation and sifting through the heaviness of the words involved in this project. The easiest part was running it through the algorithm software that forced the patterns you see in each portrait. The patterns are entirely dictated by the length and structure of each person’s last words and sentences.
Amy Elkins, Elliot Rod Johnson, Execution #24, Age 38.
MUSÉE: Why do you choose not to give context to the crimes these people committed? For that matter, why did you choose not to give us any background on the inmates at all?
AMY: For many reasons. Mainly because that is not what I was struck with when making the work. What I was struck with was the power and poetic nature of having last words at all…which if you think about it, is a very rare opportunity for any human being to have.
MUSÉE: Given that the inmates are represented solely by their final statements, what has been the viewers’ response to the project?
AMY: The work has received a pretty strong and emotional reaction both online and in exhibitions. The work is most impactful, I feel, when it is seen installed in large grids and the volume becomes immense. Going from one portrait to the next installed in tightly formed grids, when there are hundreds of images surrounding you is a fairly overwhelming experience. I think people respond to that volume. And I think people respond to the basic idea behind the work. It’s eye opening if one is not aware of just how active our nation’s death penalty is.
Amy Elkins, Clockwise from top left: Leonel Herrera, Execution #58, Age 45; Samuel Hawkins, Execution #92, Age 52; Clifton Belyeu, Execution #118, Age 38; Robert Madden, Execution #123, Age 33.
MUSÉE: You were sending letters to inmates as part of your project, Black is the Day, Black is the Night. Were you able to remain objective? At any time did your emotions take over?
AMY: Black is the Day, Black is the Night was created in a much more direct and personal way than Parting Words. With BITDBITN I spent years writing back and forth with several men. While I tried to remain objective, my emotions fluctuated throughout the project (that spanned from 2009-2014). I stopped making work when things got too heavy. There were many ups and downs. Two of my penpals were executed during the making of this work and two were released early. I can’t deny that these events affected me.
MUSÉE: You state on your website that Parting Words emerged out of Black is the Day, Black is the Night when one of the prisoners you were in correspondence with was executed. What was the reason you turned Parting Words into its own series as opposed to making it a part of Black is the Day, Black is the Night?
AMY: These two projects both talk about capital punishment, but in very different ways, and I felt the need to separate the varying methods used to create the work. The sheer volume of Parting Words stemming directly out of the personal nature of BITDBITN connects these two bod- ies of work for me perfectly. They have been exhibited side by side in every solo show I have had of the work to date.
Amy Elkins, David Goff, Execution #246, Age 31.
MUSÉE: What are you doing now? Will you continue to work on this project, or move on to something else entirely?
AMY: My first book Black is the Day, Black is the Night comes out in Oct. I’ve been working hard with a great designer and writer over the past year. I am anxiously awaiting getting my hands on a few dozen early copies, which are being shipped to me just in time for the New York Art Book Fair at PS1 in mid-September.
I have been working for the past year on a new and unrelated portrait project that I am pretty excited about as well. It’s too early on to talk about but I’m looking forward to it all coming together.
To view the full interview, visit Issue No. 16 — Chaos.
