Volume XWII, Issue 18 Educating Women To Excel February 23, 2005
ON THE
INSIDE:
"Nine'
the
Musical
Page
2
Tunnel
of
Oppres
sion
Page
3
Black
Empha
sis
Month
Event
$
Page
4
Sports
N
iWS
Page
5
Women
s
Studies
Events
Page
6
Classifieds
Page
8
"Women in Prison" comes to Weems Gallery
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JENNA CHAMBERS
Staff Writer
Jane Evelyn Atwood, the
featured artist in the Frankie
G. Weems Art Gallery, came
to Meredith Monday, Feb
ruary 14 for a slide presen
tation. The slides featured
additional pictures from
her work on issues typi
cally ignored by society,
exposing worlds people do
not face in ordinary life.
Atwood said she went to
France without knowing
she was going to stay. She
was mainly interested in
people outside of “normal”
society, people shunned and
looked down upon, or those
struggling to survive ex
traordinary circumstances.
“I wanted to go to the very
intimacy,” she explained.
She wanted to know the
people and understand them.
She discussed the very
first project she ever worked
on. Arriving in France in the
1970s, she wanted to meet
a prostitute that her friend
knew. The woman sparked
her interest in exposing real
ity. Atwood wanted to get to
know the woman and what her
experiences were like. She
said she was able to be with
the womjtt for extended peri
ods of time; but when clients
came, she had to disappear.
Atwood talked about her
exhibit, "Too Much Time:
Women in Prison,” which
was featured in the Meredith
art gallery. She also elabo
rated more on the stories
behind the pictures. Many
of the women did not want
to be photographed, and
she was taught a lesson in
patience. Believing in real
photographs, she protested
against setting up photos.
Pure documentary pho
tography, her
photos span
a wide vari
ety of prisons
within the U.S.
and France,
and also fea
ture a prison in
Russia where
body searches
were still le
gal. A disturb
ing picture of a
woman endur
ing a genital
probe for con
cealed weap
ons flashed
on the screen, and the au
dience gasped in imison.
The women in the pris
ons she studied and pho
tographed included those
on death row. They were
women who made wrong
decisions because of men
tal problems or made wrong
choidfe in horrible situa
tions. Atwood said, “I asked
one of the prisoners if she re
gretted killing her husband.
The woman responded, ‘I
wish 1 had been given a bet
ter choice than what was
given to me.’ The woman
was treated like a prisoner
in her own home. She could
not go out at all unless her
husband was with her [...]
and she was beaten everyday
to the brink of death when,
finally, one day she snapped
and shot him.” Atwood ex
plained that her mission was
not to excuse the actions
of the women, but to better
understand their situations.
After her first book was
published in 1979, Atwcrod
started a project on the blind.
Her idea for this came when
she was riding the bus in
France and watched three
blind men as they boarded
every day. She decided then
ourtesy of photography-now.com
Featured Photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood
that not only did she want to who had AIDS. He had lived
show reality, but she wanted
to show those people who
were considered abnormal
in the world. She said, “The
blind live in a world made for
those with sight.” She wanted
to explore the harsh realities
of “abnormal” people in a
world made for the “normal.”
Following her project with
the blind, Atwood said her
next project came in 1987,
during a time when everyone
was paranoid about AIDS
(Auto Immunodeficiency
Syndrome) both in France
and America. Through a
friend, she met a French man
in America for 18 years; but
due to his lack of insurance,
he had to return to France
when he became ill. Atwood
said she wanted to photo
graph him in order to put a
face on people with AIDS.
At the time, she believed
it was a disease the pub
lic would better understand
only through education.
Courtesy of photography-now.com