Description
Giving himself the provocative task of capturing the candid expressions of death row inmates, Jones has used the power of his camera to present these inmates as real people and not just the dark side of humanity. His book, Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row chronicles his six-year odyssey documenting these men and women incarcerated in the U.S.
"There are over 3,000 people in America who will know beforehand the exact moment when they are going to be killed. As a society, we are largely unaware of a subculture our laws created: the men and women who dwell on Death Row.
We define these people by the acts that brought them to the row and consider them less than human, beyond hope.
It is my hope that if you look into the eyes of the condemned and hear their voices — if you know them — you will not be able to sanction their state sponsored murder, regardless of their crime."
Reviews
"The portraits and voices in the work humanize these condemned men and women without minimizing the magnitude of the offenders’ crimes or the pain of the victims and their families."
Northeastern University Press
"Jones spend time talking, shooting, and eventually recording his interviews with individuals on death row. The result is a startlingly human look at a group of individuals hidden from society."
Eye on Artists
"I first saw the brave and beautiful photographs in this remarkable collection at my ranch near Dubois, Wyoming, one night when Lou Jones made a slide presentation to the young trial warriors at the Trail Lawyers College. A silent pall fell over the small group. Few had ever looked in the face of a human being who was destined to be killed, purposely, with premeditation, on an hour and day certain. Now we looked at the faces."
Gerry Spence
"Jones’s work brings him into close contact with individuals who remain largely hidden from public view. Far more interested in their humanity than their criminality, Jones describes some of his experiences with the inmates on death row."
Photographic Resource Center