It was such an honor to discover peace and well-being amongst a diverse patchwork of Bohemians. In those precious moments we demonstrated unconventional love, as if the cameras were just a clever excuse. We rolled up our sleeves to show thorns and we were all titanium monochrome rose. We delighted in our company, and when we blinked then looked again we felt the force of our civility. We knew that what we shared was special. A Golden Community. Jonah
I wonder what the world would be like if we were all surrounded by people who want our dreams to come true and pushed us to be our best selves. Dawn
Healing is establishing a strong contingency not to return to any past experience that affected us negatively. This can be accomplished with unity in diversity as a beloved community. El-Sun
I came home on February 27, 2024. For over 14 years I was in pain, ridden with guilt. My mom died while I was in prison. My brother went to prison for life. The rest of my siblings moved out of state. I came out alone. But now, for the first time in a very long time, I feel happy. I am still healing, still growing. It is a never-ending process. I’m going to be okay. Erik
I
no longer want to be weighed down by regrets. By what ifs. The things that
happened, happened. I don’t want to doubt my strength, and capacity for love. Johanna
Healing
looks like self-love, going forward it looks like preventive care. Healing in
the future means allowing others in and not expecting them to be perfect. To
understand that they are just as human as I am. Ta’Chelle
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We
heal in community, not in isolation. We need to come out for and show up for
others. Being next to and with another person is life-giving. Sally
The creation of home is an authentic power, a process, but
not an event. It emerges and ripens moment by moment in response to its
occupants. Each moment is intricate and immersive, and in its subtle
completion, a protective 'mesh' unfolds and filters out negative toxic
variables that dare to invade its homeostasis. These photos reflect this in
every sense of the word. Open yourself up to these authentic photographic
reflections and share its wonderful experiences. Let these reflections guide
you through the depth of their richness and feel the experience we had in
participating in this workshop.
Moses El-Sun White, February 2025
Looking through my home
via a mesh, you're going to see subway tracks. These tracks have been
abandoned but I wonder who crossed them, where did these people go and what is
their story. It intrigues me and the mesh kinds of filter some of the
subtle stories, but it also allows me to fill in the blanks.
Ta’chelle Carter
What I hope to see on the other side of the mesh is positivity, love, peace, and happiness.
Barry Sloan
I want to look at an open landscape, maybe wooded or partially wooded, with no houses, power lines, or visual noise, just nature. I want a view that allows for stillness and deep breathing, where I can feel connected to something bigger than myself.
Caroline
Gomez
It is revelatory that something as simple as a portrait like
this makes clear my defensiveness and the need to protect my true self, and how
this prevents me from presenting that best self to others. The mesh
recognizes that so much of who I am is too effectively veiled and hidden to
others. The real question is: why did I develop like this? And can
I change?
Peter Clancy
The mesh might seem like it hides your identity, but to me, it brings out my true self even more. Most people don’t think of taking a portrait behind a veil as a way to enhance who you are—they see it as hiding something. What I see is my mental endurance and my strength through everything I’ve faced in a world designed to break us.
Keonnie Raheem
This photograph represents me being at peace with my vulnerability.
Kim Lumford
These little pieces, these tiny squares, are a conglomerate of my story. A collage of many parts. Microscopic pieces of myself that also recognize the shy person within me. Or at least the one who doesn’t like to be lingered on—as if it’s not worth a deeper glance or as if I’m not worth being the subject.
Noelle Richardson
I’m looking ahead to the next 50 years of my life—which would make me 100. This window screen in my home lets me see the world with fresh eyes, giving me a new, optimistic, and beautiful perspective. I am Bicentennial Man.
Robert Karim Ferebee
The screen allowed me to
wear a “mask”. I felt I could look out but wasn’t visible to others. Not so, of
course, but it’s what I told myself.
Chuck Chernick
If I were looking
through the screen in my home, I would like to see a large and joyful gathering
of family and friends — including those who have passed away.
Sharon Chernick.
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We
heal in community, not in isolation. We need to come out for and show up for
others. Being next to and with another person is life-giving. Sally
Invisibility—What Is It and How Does It Feel?
In February 2024, Accompagnateur Workshops began a program with the Phipps Neighborhoods in the South Bronx. This photography workshop, in which the participants take portraits of one another as well as photograph their surroundings, apartments, family members, and neighborhood over four sessions held over four weeks, was organized around the concept of invisibility.
Society calls the participants, who all live in the Phipps Neighborhoods, and so many like them, “marginalized people.” In a very real sense, this definition robs them of their uniqueness and intrinsic value as human beings.
How appropriate, then, and how necessary, for a program to make them visible, both to themselves and to others. What a community was built, even over such a short time! The workshop put them at the center, not on the fringes where the wider society demands they stay. In only four sessions, both the creative act of photography and the circle work, talking about the photographs and the person in them by both the subject and the photographer, revealed and illuminated new aspects of each participant’s visibility and innate creativity.
In life, we feel visible and invisible.
We prim and pose for the camera, hoping to capture our visibility in freeze frame and capture our memories on film.
We feel invisible when we hide ourselves from the camera in the silence of passing life, marching towards the unknown.
According to the invisible, we constantly reaffirm our beauty and worth, as the camera exposes our outer beauty layered among the petals of our inner soul.
Dignity - State or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. I was born with dignity, yet I felt it being stripped away. Now I want it back. I now feel strong enough to deserve my dignity. Now I want, and I am, in dignity again. Jessica
I had the privilege of participating in a specialized photography class designed for incarcerated individuals, and it had been a transformative experience. The program doesn't just teach photography; it restores dignity and empowers individuals who often feel forgotten.
Under the guidance of Saskia Keeley, and with access to essential digital photography equipment, I learned to see the world from a different perspective. Capturing moments through the lens allowed me to reconnect with my creative side and express myself in ways I never thought possible within the confines of a correctional facility.
More than technical skills, this class provided a sense of purpose and self-worth. It reminded me that I am capable of creating beauty even in challenging circumstances. It allowed me to tell my own story, and in doing so, regain a sense of dignity and identity.
I am grateful for Saskia's program and the opportunity it has given me to develop not only with new photography skills but as a person. It was a journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and a reminder that no matter where we are, our dignity and creativity can never be taken away.
I wholeheartedly endorse this program and hope that it continues to make a positive impact on the lives of incarcerated individuals who deserve a chance to rebuild their self-esteem and find their voice through photography.
Randy Z.
December 5, 2023, CBS News Photography by Suffolk County inmates on display at correctional facility in Yaphank
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/photography-by-suffolk-county-inmates-on-display-at-correctional-facility-in-yaphank/ class=""
Dignity is finding yourself, loving yourself, feeling beautiful, strong, confident. Doing good things, telling the truth, being honorable. Corrine
I am perfectly imperfect, I am me.
Shannon
DIGNITY: The state or quality of being worthy of honor & respect. Having self-esteem, being a good example, doing the right thing, treating others as you want to be treated, being empathetic. Knowing that I deserve honor & respect and not accepting anything less. Megan
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Yaphank Correctional Facility
Yaphank Correctional Facility in Riverhead, New York, has a long history of service to community safety and crime prevention dating back to 1664, and under Sheriff Toulon’s leadership, a greatly expanded committment to incarcerated rehabilitation as its primary goals while vigorously pursuing those who commit crimes. In partnership with Sheriff Toulon’s staff, Saskia Keeley designed this Accompagnateur Workshop to explore dignity among male & female incarcerated.
STRIVE provides opportunity for men and women to advance themselves in society with training and empowerment.
ACCOMPAGNATEUR WORSKSHOPS support men and women as they accept the past, see their lives in the present, and create their futures.
The hands of a retired warrior. My hands are a blessing, they express what I know, the scars within. They embody the strength I have gotten overtime to continue. Steven
- A shot can tell many stories, the camera can bring out the best and worst of people. I want to brighten people’s day by day showing their internal beauty through outward expression. Abraham
- Learned to cherish the moment one click at a time. Angel
