Freedom of Expression
This exhibition was displayed at the Southbank gallery. 'Freedom of Expression' is a project celebrating the work of South African photographer, Karl Schoemaker. Schoemaker captured images of the holding cells in the old Baakens Police Station in Port Elizabeth. He shot the images across three month, while being mindful to never spend too long in the cells. He was afraid of becoming desensitised of their history. Schoemaker stated ' I would go down and simply read the stories scratched into the walls, not photographing anything but imagining the emotions the prisoners felt.' This shows that he wanted to have an emotional connection with the prisoners.
I liked this exhibition and felt like I truly understood the emotional connection of the photographs. I don't think the curation did the works justice as they were displayed in frames with a shiny coating over the top therefore we couldn't see the complete photographs without a shine. I also thought that some of the images were too similar and that their should have been more variety. I liked the title 'Freedom of Expression' as it represents how the prisoners expressed themselves by writing on the wall while being in isolation. Scoemaker documented the writing on the walls to show us how the prisoners felt. I liked the perspective of which the photographs were taken from because it allows us to see the writing on the walls and the rest of the prison cell.
