In Holbrook, Arizona, there is a museum in the old county courthouse. The museum is really quite wonderful, if you like small town museums, and is filled with all sorts of objects both from and commemorating locals of historic and modern significance. In the basement, however, there is a another, very different type of museum. It is one of the more non-traditional (and deeply upsetting) museums I have ever been in, but it has one of the most moving and fascinating collections I have ever seen.

The museum is actually a jail cell, and the art is the drawings and carvings that cover the walls, left behind by prisoners (many unfairly imprisoned). We had no tour guide to tell us about our surroundings, but we only needed to feel the energy in the space and read the stories left behind. These are only some of the pieces of art and writing found on these walls, and there is little detail in this collection that shares the horror of the space and what must have happened there.

While part of me feels the need to honor and share that legacy of suffering, the other part of me wishes to focus on the incredible statements of humanity that were left behind as a result of that suffering. I mourn for every life that was affected by this horrible place, but I hope to honor all those lives by sharing the powerful works they left behind.

Photographs taken with Fuji X A-1 digital camera