Richard Ross

From the abandoned Eastern Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia to the prison yards of Abu Ghraib, Richard Ross photographs areas of containment that governments use to imprison, teach, restrain, question and even execute their people. Ross is perhaps best known for his Museology series of mounted animals at natural history museums and from the famous Deyrolle Taxidermy Shop in Paris. At the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, his Architecture of Authority reminds us that we are not alone -- that we're under surveillance in public places and other spaces designed to organize us, to make us easier to monitor, and to control us. Ross understands how the spaces of authority -- schools, prisons, government departments -- manipulate a citizenry. Read the whole review.
Oct. 23-14, 2008