La plus ancienne prison du Canada, le pénitencier de Kingston (connu sous le nom de KP) "accueillait" les criminels notoires du pays de 1835 à 2013.
Le complexe pénitentiaire tentaculaire situé sur le lac Ontario a été profondément lié àl’histoire de Kingston et à son identité civique, mais il ya peu de témoignage visuel. Durant ses derniers mois de fonctionnement, le photographe canadien, Geoffrey James, a fait de nombreux déplacements sur le site et a produit un travail photographique conséquent qui documente cette institut légendaire.
Les images qui en résultent captent non seulement l’environnement physique impressionnant, mais aussi la vie quotidienne et les relations qui se sont nouées dans le KP. Canada’s oldest prison, Kingston Penitentiary (known as KP) was home to many of the country’s most notorious criminals from 1835 to 2013. The sprawling prison complex on Lake Ontario has been deeply entwined with Kingston’s history and civic identity, but there is little visual record left. Through its final months of operation, Canadian photographer, Geoffrey James, made numerous trips to the site, producing an astounding body of photographs that document this legendary institut.
The resulting images capture not only the impressive physical setting, but also the routines and relationships that were formed in the KP. James’ photographs serve both as document and an art exhibition, a hallmark of his oeuvre.Based in Toronto, James has devoted the past 30 years to photographing the man-made landscape, typically using large-format and panoramic film cameras to record the often-devastating impact of human activity. From the aristocratic idyll of European gardens and the democratic landscapes of Frederick Law Olmsted, to the devastated asbestos-mining landscape of Quebec and the ’no man’s land’ along the US-Mexican border, his images have made him one of the most important photographers of our time. James is a Fellow of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York. He is also the recipient of the Victor Lynch Staunton Prize of the Canada Council, the Roloff Beny Foundation Photography Book Award, and has received the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation Prize. James is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy, and in 2012 he received the Governor-General’s Award in the Visual and Media Arts.