Sara Bennett
Posted on November 10, 2020 | posted by: codic806After spending 18 years as a public defender, SARA BENNETT turned her attention to documenting women with life sentences, both inside and outside prison. Her work has been widely exhibited and featured in such publications as The New York Times, The New Yorker Photo Booth, and Variety & Rolling Stone’s “American (In)Justice.” Like the women she photographs, Bennett hopes her work will shed light on the pointlessness of extremely long sentences and arbitrary parole denials.
Some of her inspiring works include Life After Prison. I thought this piece was very touching. Not only does it humanize and bring so much emotion to the people who are watching it, but it’s also a critique on how much prison affects us and keeps us away from the thing that give us joy in life. Here is her description of the work, “Life After Life in Prison examines the lives of seven women — Tracy, Evelyn, Carol, Keila, Karen, Leah, and Claude — as they return to society after serving anywhere from 17 to 35 years in New York State’s maximum security prison for women.”
some of her other works include The Bedroom Project. This project also focuses on women who have been incarcerated, and finally have been able to get out. Her photography to me conveys emotions really well and gives a powerful understanding of what some people experience in their lives. As stated by her, ” The Bedroom Project comprises 21 portraits of formerly incarcerated women, who spent anywhere from 14 to 37-1/2 years in prison.”
Overall, I believe that she is a great artist. Seeing that photography to me is one of the most difficult subjects when it comes to art, as it is difficult to convey emotions through a photograph, something that I believe she does very well! Her history and photography is very inspiring, and truly gives an understanding by opening the eyes to society and our systems of issues that we have to work on and help with.