Tuesday, September 11, 2012

TODAY'S SPECIAL!



Irony, fast food, photography, a touch of OCD & a beautiful color story = the work of Julia Ziegler-Haynes. Her latest photography project gives my creative dick a boner. OHWOW is pleased to announce the publication of Today's Special by the Brooklyn-based artist and chef Julia Ziegler-Haynes. her book illustrates the final meals or "special meals,” requested by 24 death row inmates on the eve of their execution. Her intention in creating this work is to examine the human condition through the contrast of capital punishment and the forgiving gesture of granting one last request.

Enjoy.





 

Fascinated with the subject of the last meal, Ziegler-Haynes undertook extensive and emotionally exhaustive research through the public records of death row inmates. She then selected meals and painstakingly recreated each, arranging or cooking items exactly to the recorded likings and specifications of each prisoner. A brief detailing of the inmate's crime and penalty appears toward the end of the book, beside a thumbnail of its corresponding image.

"Essentially, these prisoners had become guests in my home. And so, despite having been immersed in the hideous details of each crime, I repeatedly found myself feeling empathetic towards them. Especially those whose requests were so meager," states Ziegler-Haynes. For example, one photograph depicts a black unpitted olive, another, a single cup of coffee.


via OHWOW

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