HANGMAN

Laser engraved assemblage, 2024

A pair of old school desks, heavily bolted together, forced to face each other. The desks, at first glance, look like any old student’s desk from 1940s to 1960s; well used and worn. Upon closer inspection, the desk tops have been laser engraved. On one a partially completed game of hangman almost spelling out the word “execution”, on the other a list of names tightly packed and flowing off all sides of the desk surface.

It is not until the viewer discovers that the desks were made and used in San Quentin prison and the list of names are those of the 315 men put to death by hanging there; confronts us with the reality of the  message – that of state sanctioned violence and the interwoven truth of humanity within that violence.