The Archive
The goal of this project is to force a reckoning by bombardment.
There are hundreds of images in the archive, including many autopsy photos of prisoners and guards murdered during the retaking of D Yard. Due to the overwhelming amount of evidence, it is not possible for one person to properly explore or expose the full scope of the information.
Additionally, shooting by State Police was indiscriminate, resulting in the deaths of 39 men of various races, backgrounds, and cultural experiences. A full understanding of the material can only be achieved when people from every pocket of society have the opportunity to absorb, dissect, and interpret the archive.
As one element of achieving this goal Hull intends to post the entire digital archive online, for click-through viewing or download. Secondly, managing the web presence for the archive provides an opportunity to shape the context of the presentation. While the full archive is in the public domain and will be available to all, there will also be curated pages that highlight particular elements with specific photos or pieces of video.
For example, planting weapons to fabricate evidence has rarely been so clearly on exhibit as in two pictures of James Robinson, who was murdered by New York State Police.
This is one of many photos of James Robinson taken after he was killed by New York State Police.
Further research proved this photo was taken later, after someone planted the “sword”.
The best way to cement the legacy of this material is to encourage every community to explore how it relates to them.
Our goal is to use this archive as one element of a conversation about reimagining ways to end state violence against citizens.
Other elements could include:
Gallery exhibitions of the photos There are hundreds of photographs that span subjects and styles from mug shots to x-rays. There are dozens of different ways photo collections could be curated, presented, and developed into deeper understandings.
Artistic reimaginings The photos can be used as inspiration for artistic reimaginings. One excellent example is the graphic novel Stand at Attica by Frank “Big Black” Smith, Jared Reinmuth, and Améziane.
Photo/essay book Similar to the website, authors could pick a photo or series of photos to explore in whatever way they see fit. This would presumably include fiction and non-fiction works.
Educational art projects Inspired by the work done in Portland, Oregon by Don’t Shoot PDX, young people could be encouraged to interact with some of the less graphic images as a way of learning the history of these events.
New edits of existing video material In addition to the photos, there are hours of video material that have all been deemed public domain. Local filmmakers should be encouraged to interact with the material in their own way. These short projects could be bundled with the documentary film Surrender Peacefully, You Will Not Be Harmed for a themed screening and discussion.
In the years of conversations Hull had with Elizabeth Fink while she was alive, she consistently hit on one point: it’s not enough to have progressive values, you have to live them. A secular version of the famous maxim Faith without works is dead, Fink lived a life of anti-racist action.
It is our goal for the archive to carry her message about Attica, but also to be inspired by her life of intentional effort fighting an unjust system.
New images will be uploaded to this website monthly, organized as they were found in the original evidence files. If you would prefer to have the entire digital archive as soon as possible, please email archive manager Michael Hull at atticamassacre@gmail dot com. The full archive is nearly 1TB of digital material, so the easiest way to share it is on a new hard drive that can be formatted for use on Mac or Windows machines and sent by mail.