Eastern State Penitentiary

I had the opportunity to visit the ESP on my way to the Art in Nature Festival where I am presenting Color Management and Workflow.The ESP invites artists to create work that address ESP's themes—including issues of crime and justice, architectural history, and the site’s fascinating past.  Ruth Scott Blackson is one of the artists who has created a fascinating piece of work entitled No Trace Without ResistanceAs you can see from the image, Ruth applied new paint chips, coated in gold leaf, to the flaking walls of this cell. Quote from the ESP site "In the resulting “shimmering constellation,” sunlight on the installation may entice the visitor in the same way an inmate may have been forced to concentrate on the walls during solitary confinement. The prison’s neglect reveals something surprising and rare underneath."And the as you walk through the cell blocks - you see cell after cell all in arrested decay.  Al Capone - spent his time in a rather elaborate cell - the age old radio still plays.The other inmates did not have such comfort as you see in the typical cell below.Though each cell block had a Barber Cell with a centrally placed Barber's Chair there are currently just two that remain.  Like the spokes of a wheel the never-ending corridors of the ESP.