Circumnavigating Rikers was published in carte blanche magazine, fall 2020.
The original project was a collaboration with Tactical Aesthetics.
Rikers Island can be seen as a symbol for the Prison Industrial Complex in that the entire island has been constructed and expanded precisely to incarcerate people. The island is home to one of the world's largest correctional institutions and is New York City's main jail.
By circumnavigating this panopticon-island by canoe, we were attempting to allegorically circle the criminal (in)justice system.
However, before completing the circumnavigation, we were spotted by the Port Authority and picked up by an NYPD boat, interrogated by an FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force, and ultimately given a notice by the Coast Guard for breaching the LaGuardia Airport Security Zone in Flushing Bay.
