In Darkness - Julie Shafer

In Darkness is presented as a pair of diptychs that represent the last moments of the lives of both Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.; one diptych represents Matthew Shepard, and the other represents James Byrd, Jr. Each diptych was made in the same way: Using a DSLR camera, Shafer took one long exposure from outside the window of a rental car while traveling the distance where Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd were picked up by their assailants and ended the exposure at the spot where their lives ended. The second image was created by driving the same route in reverse; starting where their bodies were left and ending back where they were first picked up. Streaks of light throughout the resulting image were created by a combination of the length of exposure time determined by the two fixed points and the car’s speed—a measurement of the time and subsequent brutality that they endured alone. For this work Shafer uses the camera as a tool to investigate the trauma of American violence against the “other”.

Fireside Lounge to 41.296111, -105.51500 and Huff Creek Road, Jasper, TX are a series of photographs that serve as an intimate record of bigotry, hatred and homophobia. The coordinates 41.296111, -105.515000 were found via the Internet’s geo tracking of the location of the deer post where Shepard’s brutalized body was found. Huff Creek Rd. is a remote road in a small eastern Texas town where James Byrd Jr. was murdered.