Lynching 2, 2007 Acrylic on canvas (88"' x 228"), CCTV system of 10 cameras and monitors

Diagram of Lynching 2 installation at Space Other, Boston, 2007

10 ceiling mounted cctv cameras are situated facing a large painting that depicts two corpses from a 1920 lynching in Duluth, Minnesota. CCTV video monitors situated on the floor show close-up portraits of people in the lynch mob otherwise not visible to the subject.  The monitors face the painting so that the subject, when viewing the video monitors, inadvertently put himself in front of the cctv cameras and into the video frame.


Photo of installation at Space Other, Boston, MA, Acrylic on canvas (88" x 228" )


Detail view of CCTV monitors on floor displaying painted faces of lynch mob and occasional view of the subject's face.


Detail view of one of the 9 video monitors revealing the faces of men in the lynch mob.


Detail view of one of the 9 video monitors revealing the faces of men in the lynch mob.


Detail view of one of the 9 video monitors revealing the faces of men in the lynch mob.


Detail view of the last video monitor, in which viewer sees himself standing infront of the entire painting.


About the original image:
The original photograph was taken on the evening of following the lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Issac McGhie on June 15, 1920 in Duluth, Minnesota.  Six circus workers were detained on false accusations of having raped a white woman.  A mob of 1,000-10,000 pulled the accused from their cells and held a mock-trial outside the police station.  Three of the men were beaten and lynched on a light pole on block from the police station.