“OSTRAKA”

LIMITED EDITION
Inmate Portrait Collection

available for PRE ORDER soon

Artist Statement

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing the great treasure.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

This body of work titled “Ostraka”, which is defined as a fragile earthen vessel, documents expressions of faith within a space once defined almost exclusively by violence, punishment, and control: a former maximum-security prison long regarded as one of the most dangerous in the state of Missouri. By focusing the camera toward moments of belief, ritual, and quiet devotion, this work asks how faith persists—and transforms—within environments designed to suppress individuality and hope.

Historically, prisons are constructed to regulate bodies and behavior, yet faith operates beyond those constraints. In these images, crucifixes, worn scriptures, and gestures of worship become sites of resistance and refuge. Faith appears not as spectacle, but as a lived, often fragile practice—one that offers meaning, structure, and connection in a place shaped by isolation and loss.

Rather than attempting to romanticize incarceration or redemption, this project holds tension between the institution’s violent legacy and the deeply human need for spiritual grounding. The photographs linger in spaces where control once dominated, allowing traces of belief to reframe them. What was once feared becomes contemplative; what was once forbidden becomes intimate.

Ultimately, this work considers faith as both a personal and collective act—one that survives even in the most adverse conditions. By documenting these moments, this work challenges dominant narratives about prisons and those within them, revealing how belief can carve out dignity, agency, and hope in places built to deny them.