When the light goes out
by Jeff Burgess
Title
When the light goes out
Artist
Jeff Burgess
Medium
Photograph - Photography-fusion
Description
Another in a series about doubt which followed my reading of the 'Divinity of Doubt'......about God and atheism. It is a good read and insightful. The background and foreground is taken from the Eastern State penitentiary in Philadelphia. The cellblocks are ruins and amazing. There is wonderful texturing of the walls and other structures. The folks who ran this place believed in a system of rehabilitation that involved isolation. As Wikipedia states: "The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment". Prisoners were expected to meditate on their crimes and change.
"the Auburn system (also known as the New York system)..... held that prisoners should be forced to work together in silence, and could be subjected to physical punishment (Sing Sing prison was an example of the Auburn system). Although the Auburn system was favored in the United States, Eastern State's radial floor plan and system of solitary confinement was the model for over 300 prisons worldwide. Capone was held there in a cell he was allowed to fix up and decorate. Did this 'religious' philosophy work. There is doubt. So I wanted to create an image that reflected this mental anguish.
Uploaded
June 13th, 2014
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Viewed 923 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/27/2024 at 5:51 AM
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Comments (41)
Lois Bryan
Fabulous and creative and imaginative, Jeff. I've been to Eastern State as well and I love your interpretation ... and your deeper delve. Very beautiful, as always!! f t p fb
Jeff Burgess replied:
A fascinating place, for sure. As is the book. Definite inspiration for an art piece.....and great textures.
June Walker
Beautiful imagery and interesting notes about the piece,
Jeff Burgess replied:
Thanks, June for the comment and actually reading the description. Appreciated.
Jutta Maria Pusl
Revisiting... fantastic artwork!
Jeff Burgess replied:
Thanks, Jutta. Symbolic work is quite hard for me to develop and conceptualize in art.
Don Columbus
Congratulations, your work is Featured in "Photographic Camera Art" I invite you to place it in the group's "2020-2021 Featured Image Archive" Discussion!! L
Lyric Lucas
Congratulations, your creative and unique art work is Featured on the homepage of the "Out Of The Ordinary 1 A Day" group! 7/2/21 l/f/pin
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your fantastic photographic art has been chosen as a Camera Art Group feature! You are invited to archive your work in the feature archives discussion in the Camera Art Group.