"Opening Windows"

Sing Sing Prison is not just a place. It’s a historical landmark, a pop culture sensation, and a central character in the story of the United States carceral system.

“Opening Windows” is a virtual exhibit designed to give visitors a glimpse into the expansive, storied, and complex history of Sing Sing Prison while asking larger questions about incarceration, economics, and alternatives to prison. The exhibit features 12 stories filled with stunning artifacts, as well as a historical timeline that outlines key moments in Sing Sing’s nearly 200 year-long history.

For the creation of this exhibit, our design team wanted to evoke the stunning natural beauty and history of the prison site on the banks of the Hudson River, using colors drawn from nature rather than the traditional blacks and grays so often used to depict prison life. We set each story in a windowpane to reference the architectural affordances of the cellblock and to create a metaphorical opening for visitors to peer through. We chose to highlight the layered nature of these kinds of stories through double exposure techniques, and used layouts and halftone image textures to pay homage to both mainstream and prison newspapers from the museum collection that served as reference materials.

The stories of “Opening Windows” are designed to explore important themes surrounding Sing Sing and the larger US prison system, such as the human impact of incarceration, the sensationalism of corporal punishment, and the purpose of prisons. We also worked closely with the museum's exhibition team to take extra care with the language used throughout the exhibit, ensuring that we recognize the humanity of all people.

1 in 3 Americans is justice-impacted. When we look at incarceration as a window of time, we more fully acknowledge each person’s life story. And in doing so, we seek to bring attention to all of the windows in between the inside and outside worlds of a prison. We also want to acknowledge the larger circles that encompass people who work in carceral settings, people who are victims of crimes, and their families and communities.