Photographer and author Steven Hirsch has photographed the homes of registered New York State sex offenders. Steven is both a wonderful writer and photographer. This work is chilling, alarming, beautiful. I get that Quentin Tarantino feeling of beauty and disgust. Look, noooo look away. The series of 24 images are on Steven’s website.
Male • DOB December 24, 1958 • Forcibly touched a 14 year old female • Convicted June 8, 2006 • Sentenced to 1 year in jail • Recently moved to another town in the area
Male • DOB November 2, 1957 • Actual deviate sexual Intercourse once with a 10 year old female • Convicted January 9, 1987 • Sentenced to 100 months to 25 years in state prison
Male • DOB July 16, 1951 • Had actual deviate sexual intercourse with a 13 year old female. He used his hands, fist and a club during the attack • Convicted February 26, 1982 • Sentenced to 8 years to 16 years in state prison
Love Thy NeighborHomes of New York State Registered Sex OffendersFor anyone familiar with the work of Steven Hirsch, these pictures seem to be a radical departure from his style. At first glance.Technically flawless, quiet, without movement, uniform, they look to be documents of every day American life, with school lunches, baseball practice, bills and family. But not quite. They are too still, too ordinary. White aluminum siding, candy blue skies, trees with bark and branches in stark focus. A sign to “Support Our Troops”, tucked in near the fence on the ground, a school bus parked out in front. The windows are dull, hung with blinds or curtains, without a story.Ordinary.When our eyes drop down to the titles of the photos, we may recognize one or the other name of a sex offender from the headline news.Herein lies the link to other work of Steven Hirsch: the frame is slightly shifted, the twist of reality, eerie, unpredictable. Stirring up human ‘Angst’ and paranoia. The endless loneliness of strangers walking on New York streets is replicated in the faceless ordinariness of indistinguishable houses, some of which may have witnessed unspeakable horror and pain.The photos do not investigate, they document. It is up to the viewer to project their thoughts and ideas, to interpret.Steven Hirsch documents the surface. The image becomes a catalyst to the at times uncomfortable emotional experience the viewer brings to seeing.Our projections become superimposed on the visual image.Do we hate sex offenders, do we want them locked away forever, or do we empathize with a twisted soul who probably had a horribly abusive childhood himself.This is the true strength of Steven’s work: he makes us look at our world anew, with a fresh, uncomfortable eye.
Ina Becker
MD PhDAssistant
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Columbia University
{via i love photography}
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