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Taryn Simon

The Innocents

June 24–September 11, 2004
Beverly Hills

Taryn Simon, Larry Youngblood; Alibi location, Tucson, Arizona; With Alice Laitner,Youngblood's girlfriend and alibi witness at trial; Served 8 years of a 10.5-year sentence for Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, and Child Molestation, from the series The Innocents, 2002 Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Larry Youngblood; Alibi location, Tucson, Arizona; With Alice Laitner,
Youngblood's girlfriend and alibi witness at trial; Served 8 years of a 10.5-year sentence for Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, and Child Molestation
, from the series The Innocents, 2002

Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP
© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Frederick Daye; Alibi location, American Legion Post 310, San Diego, California; Where 13 witnesses placed Daye at the time of the crime; Served 10 years of a Life sentence for Kidnapping, Rape, and Vehicle Theft, from the series The Innocents, 2002 Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Frederick Daye; Alibi location, American Legion Post 310, San Diego, California; Where 13 witnesses placed Daye at the time of the crime; Served 10 years of a Life sentence for Kidnapping, Rape, and Vehicle Theft, from the series The Innocents, 2002

Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP
© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Calvin Washington; C&E Motel, Room No. 24, Waco, Texas; Where an informant claimed to have heard Washington confess; Served 13 years of a Life sentence for Capital Murder, from the series The Innocents, 2002 Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Calvin Washington; C&E Motel, Room No. 24, Waco, Texas; Where an informant claimed to have heard Washington confess; Served 13 years of a Life sentence for Capital Murder, from the series The Innocents, 2002

Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP
© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Ronald Jones; Scene of arrest, South Side, Chicago, Illinois; Served 8 years of a Death sentence for Rape and Murder, from the series The Innocents, 2002 Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Ronald Jones; Scene of arrest, South Side, Chicago, Illinois; Served 8 years of a Death sentence for Rape and Murder, from the series The Innocents, 2002

Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP
© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Tim Durham; Skeet shooting, Tulsa, Oklahoma; 11 alibi witnesses placed Durham at a skeet-shooting competition at the time of the crime; Served 3.5 years of a 3,220-year sentence for Rape and Robbery, from the series The Innocents, 2002 Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP© Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Tim Durham; Skeet shooting, Tulsa, Oklahoma; 11 alibi witnesses placed Durham at a skeet-shooting competition at the time of the crime; Served 3.5 years of a 3,220-year sentence for Rape and Robbery, from the series The Innocents, 2002

Chromogenic print, 31 × 40 inches (78.7 × 101.6 cm) or 48 × 62 inches (121.9 × 157.5 cm), both edition of 5 + 2 AP
© Taryn Simon

About

Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills is pleased to present The Innocents, a recent photographic project by the American artist Taryn Simon.

The Innocents documents the stories of individuals who served time in prison for violent crimes they did not commit. At issue is the question of photography's function as a credible eyewitness and arbiter of justice.

The primary cause of wrongful conviction is mistaken identification. A victim or eyewitness identifies a suspected perpetrator through law enforcement's use of photographs and lineups. This procedure relies on the assumption of precise visual memory. But, through exposure to composite sketches, mugshots, Polaroids, and lineups, eyewitness memory can change. In the history of these cases, photography offered the criminal justice system a tool that transformed innocent citizens into criminals. Photographs assisted officers in obtaining eyewitness identifications and aided prosecutors in securing convictions.

Simon photographed these men at sites that had particular significance to their illegitimate conviction: the scene of misidentification, the scene of arrest, the scene of the crime or the scene of the alibi. All of these locations hold contradictory meanings for the subjects. The scene of arrest marks the starting point of a reality based in fiction. The scene of the crime is at once arbitrary and crucial: this place, to which they have never been, changed their lives forever. In these photographs Simon confronts photography's ability to blur truth and fiction-an ambiguity that can have severe, even lethal consequences.

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