Dear Shaded viewers,
French photographer and artist JR, known for his larger-than-life human portraits that highlight those living in inhospitable areas around the world, presents his latest project in the documentary Tehachapi. The film reveals the reality within California’s level four supermax prison with a perspective that the media doesn’t want to project. With the cooperation of 40 currently and formerly incarcerated men, JR transformed the prison yard into a powerful yet temporary artwork, and the film follows the impact of the art on its participants. Through questioning the meaning of freedom and forgiveness, the film breaks down the walls of the American justice system to reveal how positive change can be made, even in life sentences.
JR’s first entry to Tehachapi was in 2019, with freedom to explore the grounds while dried blood was being washed off the yard. We believe we know what to expect from a place where human cages stand under broad daylight, but very quickly our preconceptions are put into question. Keeping his face hidden from the camera, JR develops personal connections and establishes respect with each inmate chosen to participate in the project. He begins by explaining his goal to capture a portrait of each man from above and compose them all to be pasted across the prison yard. From a bird’s eye view, it will become a visual that they are trapped inside a hole.
Thanks to the trust he gains in the prisoners, they reveal themselves and their stories in audios accessible through JR’s interactive application. Each interaction is a reminder that the individuals we have dehumanized most as a society, are still people after all. They start with mistakes made as broken youths and experience their life’s value being stripped as a result. Whatever they knew before is forgotten in a place that breathes crime and every step must be taken with survival in mind. While they were still young and unable to process their traumas, they embraced the lifestyle with the thought that a life-sentence means there’s no reason to be better. Through years, often decades, they made peace with the prison being their home and now have committed themselves to reformation.
To better understand this journey of ideological change as outsiders, we spend a lot of time with Kevin, a man who carries his regrets in the form of a swastika face tattoo, and Barrett who has come far since the years he spent in solitary confinement. The honesty in their reflections is compelling. While the documentary closely follows JR’s involvement, it mentions but does not highlight the reform and rehabilitative work the prisoners were doing prior.
The weight of the film is balanced with light-hearted moments as the project unfolds. Many details were captured by JR on his phone, making us feel personally involved as the team works, shares, and laughs together. Their gratuity leaves a lasting impression. Interviews of the prisoner’s family members have a less powerful effect on the viewer than intended, and more could have been drawn from discussions between the prisoners and family members of victims.
After the effects of COVID, JR returns to Tehachapi for a second project and learns of his impact. The prisoners remaining in Tehachapi are proud to report that many others are now in lower-security wings, or are being released, and are hopeful for their own futures. At one point, their conversation is disrupted by violence elsewhere on the grounds, a reminder of the overall limited scope of the project even within Tehachapi. The documentary concludes following Kevin through his release and first tattoo removal appointment – with a Jewish doctor.
JR’s artwork in Tehachapi shone a light on a place where no one looks for positivity. His projects centralise on the question “Can art change the world?” In this case, the artwork has had a poetic power in changing the lives of 40 men, that no one involved anticipated for. The documentary Tehachapi propels their stories and with them the conversation about possibilities for prison reform. While the project was able to open eyes around the world, its future directions are critical to making systematic changes at a grand scale.
Eliya Weinstein
