Beginning July 22, 2005 the New York Police Department and the Metropolitan Transit Authority announced that all backpacks, briefcases, large bags and packages were subject to random search on public transportation.
This was of course in response to the bombings that took place in London's Underground on July 7 and a second failed attempt on July 21, 2005.
The body of work titled, The Usual Suspects are portraits of these objects now subject to "random search". The Usual Suspects is comprised of five photographs that create a line up of a backpack, suitcase, cardboard box, duffel bag and briefcase.
Each is photographed separately on a stool, the background a greenish, cinderblock brick wall, lit by a single over-head light, all suggesting a back room interrogation.
These photographs employ a dark humor to talk about the growing climate of suspicion and paranoia that we experience daily.
