Geoffrey James

Event: The Virtual Coffee Table: Photobooks in the Digital Age

Bio: Geoffrey James is a Canadian photographer, living in Toronto. Geoffrey James is a Fellow of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York. He is the recipient of the Victor Lynch Staunton Prize of the Canada Council, the Roloff Beny Foundation Photography Book Award and has received the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation Prize. James is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. His photographs are featured in collections worldwide including Museum of Modern Art, New York, Vancouver Art Gallery, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Museum of Fine Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His black-and-white panoramic landscapes of the built landscape explore the relationship between human society and its surroundings.

Book: Inside Kingston Penitentiary, Black Dog Publishing

Synopsis: Inside Kingston Penitentiary documents photographer Geoffrey James' exploration of the former maximum-security prison, which closed in 2013 after 180 years of operation. Before closure it was one of the oldest prisons in continuous use in the world. Having never before been extensively photographed, these unprecedented images depict the notorious prison during its final six months of operation.