Juvenile Justice

My latest senior graphic design project is a poster series for the Annie Casey Foundation. After researching the facts, I realized that the U.S. juvenile system is messed up. A lot of kids are being locked-up and mistreated. I was inspired to do a "confinement" series, showing scenes of kids being constrained in different ways.

The slogan is "EDUCATE DON'T INCARCERATE."

It's been a struggle to find kids in the Chambana area since I'm not from here. At first I tried getting permission through Pam's school. They rejected the shoot, because it was too touchy of a subject. After calling a bunch of other schools, Leal Elementary, a more well-off school, responded.

Princial Landsman responded quickly to my emails. His school was perfect for my shoot. I needed a classroom, a playground with blacktop, and an urban scene. Leal had it all! When I got to the school, Principal Landsman kindly showed me around, provided me a ladder, found a classroom, and gathered great models. He had great artistic intuition and antipication. Without even being asked, he even found me a room that was small so I wouldn't have trouble setting up the yarn! The kids he chose were strangely natural at being photographed, even though none had experience with modeling.

Although it rained, hailed, and snowed today, the timing of the outdoor shoots were perfect. I only had to deal with clouds and light snow. After I told the principal, "Wow, your school is perfect for my shoot! You have everythign that I need!"

Principal Landsman replied, "It's like I could feel some outside energy working for you and this photoshoot."

After the shoot, I thought to myself, " The only way this day could get any more perfect is if the class I ditched today were canceled." I go home and get an email from my design history professor. The subject reads, CLASS CANCELED THIS WEEK. Man, I am overwhelmed with these blessings.

Anyway, enough blabbering for me. Here are some shots that were taken.