Ramon Hernandez, Execution #21, from the series Parting Words.

Charlie Brooks Jr, Execution #1, from the series Parting Words.

Robert Madden, Execution #123, from the series Parting Words.

Karla Tucker, Execution #145, from the series Parting Words.

Charles Rector, Execution #172, from the series Parting Words.

Betty Beets, Execution #208, from the series Parting Words.

19/32 (Not the Man I Once Was), from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. Portrait of a man 19 years into his Life without Parole (solitary) where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.

13/32 (Not the Man I Once Was), from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. Portrait of a man 13 years into his death row sentence, where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.

15/30 (Not the Man I Once Was), from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. Portrait of a man 15 years into his life sentence, where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.

Prison Food Tray acquired from Ebay, from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night.

Concrete Study #2, from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night.

Handmade watercolor set (tap water, candy, glass jars), Installation from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. As described by a man who has spent over 17 years on death row.

Four Years out of a Life Sentence (Sky), from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. A pen pal serving a life w/o the possibility of parole sentence in a supermax prison (solitary) described being able to see the sky through a metal grated skylight in the small concrete exercise area he was permitted in alone for one hour a day. The additional 23 hours were spent in isolation. This image was constructed out of his description of the open sky he wished to see, using appropriated images which were then composited to account for the amount of years spent in prison.

Nine Years out of a Death Row Sentence (Forest), from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. A pen pal 13 years into his death row sentence describes a childhood memory of taking refuge in the forest throughout his youth. This image was constructed out of appropriated images and composited to account for the amount of years spent in prison.

Twenty-six Years out of a Death Row Sentence (Ocean), from the series Black Is The Day, Black Is The Night. A pen pal 26 years into his sentence in a landlocked prison, described an early childhood memory that haunted him, of walking further and further into the ocean during low tide until the sudden depth and darkness before him overcame him with fear. This image was constructed out of appropriated images and composited to account for the amount of years spent in prison.

Benjamin, Age 21, Corps Dancer, Royal Danish Ballet Company, Copenhagen, 2012. Archival Pigment Print.

Lucas, Age 12, 6th Year in Royal Danish Ballet School, Copenhagen, 2012. Archival Pigment Print.

Ludwig, Age 12, 6th Year in Royal Danish Ballet School, Copenhagen, 2012. Archival Pigment Print.

Dan (Wing/Fullback), New Haven, CT, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Maurice (Wing), New York, NY, 2010. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Zak (Second Row, University Team Captain), Princeton, NJ, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Kevin (Wing), New York, NY, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Arturo (Flyhalf), New Haven, CT, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Adam (Fullback), Princeton, NJ, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Nick (Center, Wing), New York, NY, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Rick (Tight Head Prop Forward), Princeton, NJ, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Ryan (Fullback, University Team Captain), New Haven, CT, 2010. Archival ink jet print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Jake, Brooklyn, NY, 2006. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Kyle, New York, NY, 2006. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Kyle, Brooklyn, NY, 2006. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Charles, Brooklyn, NY, 2006. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Brendan, Brooklyn, 2008. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Bon, Brooklyn, 2008. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Peter, Brooklyn, NY, 2008. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Alexander, Brooklyn, NY, 2006. Chromogenic Print. Available at 20 x 16 inches, edition of 5 or 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5.

Biography

Amy Elkins explores the nuances of gender identity and masculinity, creating intimate, formal portraits of her subjects. Working in series, she has photographed male ballet dancers, rugby players, and male-identifying individuals in urban and rural Georgia, among others. Through these portraits, Elkins reveals a vulnerability and sensitivity within her subjects, upending socially accepted ideas and standards relating to masculinity.

In 2009 Elkins’ project shifted to consider the many facets of human identity using notions of time, memory, and distance, inspired by her correspondence with several men on death row in America. This ultimately led to the projects Black is the Day, Black is the Night and Parting Words, for which she won the 2014 Aperture Portfolio Prize. Black is the Day, Black is the Night incorporates text, layered and manipulated photographs (obscured digitally according to the amount of time the inmate has been incarcerated), drawings and other ephemera, forcing us to consider the existence of those serving life sentences and the impact this has on their understanding of reality, self-identity, and memory.

Born in Venice, California, Amy Elkins is currently based in the Greater Los Angeles area. She received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her work has been exhibited in numerous major institutions including the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria; the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Aperture Gallery, New York; and Houston Center for Photography, among others.

Elkins has completed several residencies, including the Latitude Artist-in-Residence, Chicago (2014); Villa Waldberta International Artist-in-Residence, Munich, Germany (2012); and Lightwork Artist-in-Residence, Syracuse, NY (2011). She won the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2014, and The Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant in 2015. Elkins' book Black is the Day, Black is the Night was Shortlisted for the 2017 Mack First Book Award and the 2016 Paris Photo Aperture Foundation Photobook Prize.

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News

AMY ELKINS AT THE HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, HOUSTON, TX

Black is the Day, Black is the Night is a conceptual exploration into the many facets of human identity using notions of time, accumulation, memory and distance through personal correspondence with men serving life and death row sentences in some of the most maximum security prisons in the U.S., all of which had served between 13-26 years at point of contact. The show opens May 8th and runs through July 5th.

AMY ELKINS WINS APERTURE PORTFOLIO PRIZE

Amy Elkins has won the 2014 Aperture Portfolio Prize. The Aperture Foundation editorial and limited-edition staff reviewed close to one thousand entries before selecting Elkins' two submitted portfolios, Parting Words and Black is the Day, Black is the Night, for the top prize. The artist will receive a cash award and an exhibition at the Aperture Gallery in New York.

AMY ELKINS GROUP EXHIBITION AND RECENT MUSEUM ACQUISITION

Work by Amy Elkins is featured in the exhibition Face It, at the Rockland Center for the Arts, in West Nyack, NY, on display through April 14. The exhibitions of photographic portraiture features artists who blur the line between editorial photography and fine art, and includes Valerie Belin, Robert Bergman, Elkins, Jill Greenberg, Steve Pyke, Tomoko Sawada and Martin Schoeller. Work from Elkins' series Wallflowers was also recently acquired by the North Carolina Museum of Art.

AMY ELKINS AT MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART; LIGHT WORK, SYRACUSE, NY

Works from Amy Elkins' new project Elegant Violence will feature in The Sports Show, a group exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, opening February 19. The exhibition will explore the role of photography in the transformation of sports from leisure activity to massive worldwide spectacle.

Additionally, a two-person exhibition - Jen Davis and Amy Elkins: Looking and Looking - will be on display at Light Work, in Syracuse, NY from January 17 through March 13.

AMY ELKINS AND HELLEN VAN MEENE CURRENTLY ON VIEW AT THE KUNSTHALLE WEIN THOUGH OCTOBER 18, 2009

Amy Elkins and Hellen van Meene are included in The Portrait: Photography as a Stage, from Mapplethorpe to Nan Goldin currently on view at the Kunsthalle Wien, Austria. The exhibition also includes Roger Ballen, Tina Barney, Valérie Belin, Clegg & Guttmann, Anton Corbijn, Rineke Dijkstra, JH Engström, Alberto Garcia-Alix, Nan Goldin, Katy Grannan, Jitka Hanzlová, Peter Hujar, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe,Thomas Ruff, and Wolfgang Tillmans among others. Curated by Peter Weiermair, the exhibition runs through October 18th, 2009.