STEVEN LAM
Texas Prison Museum, 2004
Referencing Benjamin's statement on the historical document: "Every document of civilization is a document of barbarism," the two stills are from a stop-motion animation of a paper sculpture unraveling and reconstructing itself. The paper sculptures are made from images of items on display taken from a private Prison Museum (see upper right image with fake brick wall). Both the tattoo gun and telegraph were confiscated items prisoners made from readily accessible materials (decayed wood, ball-point pens, scrap metal, etc.). By juxtaposing my construction of them with images from the prison museum, the piece comments on the prisoner's ingenious and economic creativity, the construction of everyday objects, and how the law constructs privilege.
