People take photographs for various reasons. Some take photographs to capture memories but for others, photography may also be used as a tool to create a statement, capture a meaningful message, and raise awareness about certain issues that concern society. Taryn Simon, an American artist, uses photography for this purpose. Although Simon uses various mediums such as graphic design and texts, the artist primarily uses photography to raise awareness about important issues. In Simon’s The Innocents (2003), the artist’s docuseries and photography book, she sought to raise awareness about flaws in the justice system, particularly wrongful convictions. In the book, Simon underscored the role of photography as an arbiter of justice. Considering Simon’s
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The Innocents is more than a collection of photographs. The subjects of these photographs are individuals who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. At the core of The Innocents is the idea that wrongful convictions are the result of the victims or eyewitnesses’ erroneous identification of perpetrators (“The Innocents”). Police officers call on the victims or eyewitnesses to identify the perpetrator from the lineup or a series of photographs. One of the main problems with this method is that the victims or eyewitnesses’ memory is vulnerable to change. Existing research studies show that victims or eyewitnesses’ memories may be influenced by several factors, thus, leading them to wrongfully identify an individual as the suspect or perpetrator (McGrath & Turvey, …show more content…
Within this context, photography becomes a tool that paves the way for injustice. In a way, Simon’s The Innocents project was a way for the artist to turn this around, so to speak, and to use photography to help innocent people who served time in prison by telling their stories through photographs and documentation. The main goal of Simon, it seems, is to use photography in the right way to raise awareness about wrongful convictions and mistaken identification by using the art of photography. In The Innocents, Simon took photographs of people who were wrongfully convicted in places that were linked to their conviction (“The
The Innocents is more than a collection of photographs. The subjects of these photographs are individuals who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. At the core of The Innocents is the idea that wrongful convictions are the result of the victims or eyewitnesses’ erroneous identification of perpetrators (“The Innocents”). Police officers call on the victims or eyewitnesses to identify the perpetrator from the lineup or a series of photographs. One of the main problems with this method is that the victims or eyewitnesses’ memory is vulnerable to change. Existing research studies show that victims or eyewitnesses’ memories may be influenced by several factors, thus, leading them to wrongfully identify an individual as the suspect or perpetrator (McGrath & Turvey, …show more content…
Within this context, photography becomes a tool that paves the way for injustice. In a way, Simon’s The Innocents project was a way for the artist to turn this around, so to speak, and to use photography to help innocent people who served time in prison by telling their stories through photographs and documentation. The main goal of Simon, it seems, is to use photography in the right way to raise awareness about wrongful convictions and mistaken identification by using the art of photography. In The Innocents, Simon took photographs of people who were wrongfully convicted in places that were linked to their conviction (“The