FACING LIFE
Brandon Tauszik and Pendarvis Harshaw
In their long-term project Facing Life, photographer Brandon Tauszik and writer Pendarvis Harshaw profile eight stories of life after life in California’s prisons. The eight individuals featured in Facing Life are diverse in race, gender, and location but have one thing in common: all served decades behind bars before being released due to California’s recent prison reform laws.
Over the course of two years, Tauszik and Harshaw followed these individuals as they faced everyday challenges, entered the workforce, and tried to readjust to today's rapidly changing way of life. Facing Life is comprised of cinemagraphs, videos, 360VR clips, and text, giving an intimate and extensive look into the lives of eight individuals living through re-entry in California. This project was made possible with support from the Pulitzer Center.
Travielle Craig Pope enjoys a swim with his sons James and Dmonta inside his apartment complex outside Los Angeles, CA.
Jose Espinoza prepares his security guard uniform before working the night shift at a parking lot in Stockton.
Lynn Noyes enjoys a moment of freedom at the beach near her transitional home in Monterey.
Fahim Alqaadir of Vallejo participates in a construction apprenticeship program so that he can gain access to the trade.
Robin Marlow hooks up to oxygen therapy at her home in Fresno where she lives with her longtime cellmate Nancy Adams.
Phuoc ‘Gary’ Vong prays with inmates at San Quentin State Prison during a weekly Bible study he leads there.
Kelli Burns works four jobs around the SF Bay Area, one of which is as a handywoman at an employment center in east Oakland.
Melvin watches cars pass by his childhood home in Compton. Nearly every male in his large family has been incarcerated at some point.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Brandon Tauszik is an award-winning documentary photographer and filmmaker. Melding visual art and social science, his bodies of work take form as socially-critical visual narratives. His most recent works have incorporated the largely unexplored medium of cinemagraphs, a delicate hybrid between the still image and film. His work has received reviews from TIME, Slate, VICE, Medium and many more.
Pendarvis Harshaw is a renowned journalist, author, and educator. He has taught journalism to high school students as well as incarcerated men. He is a staff writer and podcast producer at KQED. His first book, OG Told Me, is a memoir-style collection of essays about Harshaw's coming of age experience as a black man in America.
