Where Death Dies
In the United States, the death penalty is considered constitutional and currently executions are conducted in thirty-three states. Alternatively, as of 2015, eighteen states have abolished capital punishment. This photographic series, Where Death Dies documents what remains at the locations where executions once took place in states that have abolished the capital punishment. Documenting these sites creates a kind of historical typology tracking aspects of the evolution of capital punishment.
Of the eighteen states having abolished capital punishment, fourteen states have been documented at this time, New Jersey, West Virginia, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New York.
These execution sites have either remained intact, have been reused in some new capacity, or no longer exist leaving no trace of their original form. These site-specific areas, often void of most remaining evidence of the actual chambers themselves; illustrate the tension inherent in reusing a space dedicated to death.
The image titles contain the method of the last execution, what is currently in place of the original execution site, the state, and the date the photograph was taken.