No Face No Case

This artwork started with the idea of the mass incarceration phenomenon that is currently occurring globally, I then turned to a simple urban slang phrase for inspiration, “no face no case”. Its interpretation very general and at times not true leads us into thinking that if no one can identify the accused, then no crime was committed. In order to break down this idea we not only have to look at the meaning of the phrase with an artistic lens but also with a sociological lens. If there's not enough evidence in the judicial system to prove that the accused is guilty, they could walk free on the other hand if convicted and sentenced to prison the no face no case idea still stands. From this point forward, an individual would become an inmate sent to any number of prisons for the purpose of rehabilitation. In any case a prison is just a box where society sends individuals who have operated outside the norms of its society. These inmates then become faceless in the world, hidden away… where they cannot be seen. From this viewpoint we can then take a different look at the structures, relationships and institutions within the prison system to understand the complex dynamics of what and how the individual ended up in that situation, the interactions between the inmates, prison staff and in general the broader impact this will have on their rehabilitation and society.

   Running with this concept I then reverted back to the theme that stretches out in all my works, the idea of choices. Every choice we make has action, in every action a reaction dictating the outcome of our lives. We create our very own prison, our private little box. With this idea at hand, I decided to turn the sociological lens back on to myself and analyze my life and the little box that I have created for myself, as we all do. I wanted to recreate this feeling of looking at the self within and what better way than looking into a vanity mirror. The jail cell was inspired by the mistakes I've made in life. The graffiti on the jail cell was inspired by train hopping in the 80s to my local library to read books on art and look at paintings and sculptures of the great masters. The mixed media self-portrait was inspired by the no face no case research for this artwork. When creating this artwork, I learned one very important thing about myself, that I am guilty of… and that's, falling in love with art.

   Therefore, analyzing the prison system as a working institution of society, we can better understand and learn how to have an impact on real rehabilitation and decrease the recidivism rate in the hopes of pushing back against the mass incarceration phenomenon of our current era. At the same time, we can turn this sociological viewpoint on ourselves and see what we're doing to contribute to the problem and what we can do to fix it.