Some places have many stories to tell; Eastern State Penitentiary, which operated as a prison from 1829 until 1971, it certainly one of them. In its heydey, it was well-known for being advanced in its ethos and design, offering a model for prisons based on notions of reform and penitence. Later Al Capone was imprisoned there. Today it is literally crumbling, and in the midst of decay has found a new function. In addition to being an incredibly popular haunted house around Halloween, it is a museum. The historic site tells a story about the evolution of incarceration in the United States. A thoughtful exhibition in a gallery space explores mass incarceration today and highlights issues of prison reform. Site-specific installations delve into specific stories and offer new points of view through which to understand this ruin.
Airplanes is one of those installations, and it tells a story of isolation and hope. The new installation by artist Benjamin Wills is composed of paper airplanes. Each of the airplanes was made by a prisoner. Wills has been writing to prisoners since 2013. After one responded with a paper airplane, he invited others to send him airplanes. The artist has selected and arranged the airplanes in a grid protruding off the wall of a cell at Eastern State Penitentiary. Their colorful pastel presence seems hopeful as they hover in space. At the same time, they inhabit a cell that once housed a prisoner in solitary confinement (believed at the time to be one of the best ways to rehabilitate a person). The paper airplanes likewise presume isolation–and suggest a wish to communicate across walls and barriers.
Wills sees his collaboration with the prisoners as part of the artwork–the grid is the result of correspondence, relationships, and dialogue. The inclusion of the prisoner as a partner in the work is implicit, and serves a second function as an activity which counteracts–even as its highlights–their isolation from society. Prisoners used everything from drawing paper to commissary lists to denied appeals forms as the material for their airplanes. Often they wrote notes, or drew animals and people, on them. For the viewer, such individuality means that each of the airplanes becomes a stand-in for the person who made it.
The arrangement in rows hints at the numbers of incarcerated people that there are today. Walking into the cell and being surrounded by the planes enhances the sense that they are all pointed inward, closing in on you. This is partially a result of the site itself; it is a small space intended for one inhabitant. Wills’s installation balances the small, charged space with a light and humane installation. The mission of Eastern State Penitentiary today is to interpret the legacy of American criminal justice reform. Overcrowded facilities are the norm across the United States today, and there are many problems with mass incarceration. Benjamin Wills’ project highlights that issue while making visible the humanity of the incarcerated people with whom he corresponds.
