Featuring: Zara Katz, Lisa Riordan Seville, Zora J. Murff, Michael Krisch, Mark Hansen, Dalit Shalom
When someone is incarcerated, female family members often pick up the pieces. Women care for children, scrape together commissary money and pay high telephone rates to keep families connected. They are the rock. But the financial and emotional strain of having loved ones behind bars can take a toll upon women on the outside. This is one piece of the unseen legacy of mass incarceration in the United States.
To Kristal Bush, it sometimes feels like all of the men in her life have been locked up. Her first visit to Pennsylvania prisons was to see her father. She was five. Now 27, Kristal has visited at least 14 friends and relatives behind bars.
Pennsylvania incarcerates more than 49,000 people in its state prisons. Almost half are Black. Nearly one in three prisoners enters the system in Philadelphia County. These numbers shape families.
As Kristal graduated Temple University, bought a house and became a social worker, incarceration remained a backbeat to her life. She sent money to her brother, Jarvae, and became the legal guardian to his young son, Nyvea. On weekends, the family drove to visit Jarvae at Huntingdon prison, 200 miles each way. When Kristal and her mother, Crystal Speaks, struggled to keep up with the expense of those visits, Jarvae suggested they start a van service to transport other families to visit their incarcerated loved ones. Bridging the Gap was born.
Over the last four years, Kristal has taken Bridging the Gap from a side hustle to a legitimate business. Kristal, her mother, and Cassandra, who Kristal hired as a third driver after connecting on a prison visit, set out several times each week to 16 prisons across the state. Riders pay between $25 and $70 for door-to-door service. Trips span hundreds of miles, and sometimes stretch over 12 hours. Women sleep and primp, children play, and music helps the miles pass. Veteran riders share tips with newcomers: what to wear and where to sit in the visiting room, how to grapple with bills and the end of a visit when a loved one is left behind.
This multi-media installation documents a Bridging the Gap van ride to Smithfield and Huntingdon prisons, offering a glimpse into the lives of this group of women on the outside trying to stay connected to loved ones behind bars.
Production and Curation: Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville
Photographer: Zora J. Murff
Data Visualizations and Web Interactive: Michael Krisch and Mark Hansen
Exhibition Designer: Dalit Shalom
Magnum Foundation expands creativity and diversity in visual storytelling, activating new audiences and ideas through the innovative use of images. Through grants, mentorship, and creative collaborations, we partner with socially engaged imagemakers exploring new models for storytelling. Since our founding in 2007 by members of the Magnum Photos cooperative, we have made more than 600 direct grants to visual storytellers from over 80 countries. To find out about upcoming exhibitions and events, learn about grant opportunities, or join our community of support, please visit magnumfoundation.org
The Brown Institute for Media Innovation sponsors thinking, building and speculating on how stories are discovered and told in a networked, digitized world. The Institute annually awards fellowships, grants and scholarships, and is helping design a series of public events and novel educational experiences in digital storytelling.
Featuring: Various Artists
Curated by: Lisa Riordan Seville Zara Katz
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