On January 23, 2009, the Albright-Knox opened an exhibition of fifty-three of Bruce Jackson's photographs of Cummins Prison Farm in Arkansas. Cummins became infamous in the early 1970s as “the worst prison in the United States.” Jackson visited Cummins prison in 1971, shortly after a scandal involving the murder and secret burial of three inmates broke. During his initial visit to Cummins, Jackson shot nine rolls of film. A year later, he visited again, and shot twenty-nine additional rolls. Intrigued by the changes that had occurred within the prison between his first two visits, he visited six more times and took a staggering 4,000 photographs.
Bruce Jackson (American, born 1936). Perot Elevator and Standard Elevator, 2012 (printed 2017). Giclée print, edition 1/3; 44 x 65 3/4 inches (111.8 x 167 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of the artist, 2017 (P2017:1.3). © 2012 Bruce Jackson
Now a SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo, Jackson has more recently used his camera to document the structures of Buffalo’s industrial past. His Perot Elevator and Standard Elevator, 2012 (printed 2017), is now on view as part of Window to Wall: Art from Architecture.
