Land of the Free

The collections at the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea are not your average artworks sold by young artists. The first collection in the gallery was Jill Freedman: Resurrection City, 1968. It is a series of photographs that document a protest camp in Washington, D.C. for Dr. Martin Luther King’s movement and especially poverty. The main entrance opened to a wide space with a wall in the middle acting as a divider and also additional space for photographs to be hung. Freedman’s black and white photographs stood out against brightly lit white walls of the gallery. As soon as you catch a glimpse of the photographs, you are captivated and drawn to the walls.

Making my way around the first half of the collection, I carefully inspected the descriptions for more information. To me, the black and white photographs somehow managed to convey more emotions, feelings, and messages than color photographs would. Freedman captured the subjects of the photographs in candid moments – they did not feel forced or posed. The photos showcase the lives of the people in the horrible conditions of the protest camp. I could see the makeshift tents on the muddy ground and the solution to that problem. In addition, I could also see the people protesting in both the marches and the camps. Part of the reason why I thought these photographs were so moving is because there are minimal words. The lack of words allowed for the viewer to come up with their own sense of the protest and their own meaning. I thought that was really powerful.

A small narrow hallway led to the next collection of photographs: Debi Cornwall’s Welcome to Camp America. She went to Guantánamo Bay detention camp to photograph the injustices of the United States government. Because photographers were not allowed to photograph faces, Cornwall decided to use that to her advantage. It was her way of showing the lasting impact of the detestable detention camp. You can take the prisoner out of prison, but you cannot take the prison out of the prisoner.

Guantánamo Bay detention camp was established in 2002 under the Bush administration. Its sole purpose is to torture inmates, some of which who have not been formally charged with any crime whatsoever, into giving up information about the enemies of the United States. Cornwall’s photographs seem to confirm the government’s illusion of the prison. It is supposedly a very nice, habitable place with decent amenities.

However, on a side display table are two manila folders. The packets are stuffed with unclassified CIA and FBI files about Gitmo. They describe the various torturous methods of interrogation, such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, otherwise known as “enhanced interrogation techniques.” This definitely opened my eyes to see what the government does not want normal civilians and citizens to know. The repulsive atrocities from the files that contradict and falsify the government’s portrayal of Guantánamo Bay made me sick. I watched a John Oliver segment about Gitmo and the official files only validated my fears.