Museum exhibit focuses on the ‘Last Statement’

Robbie Byrd

Barbara Sloan woke up in the middle of the night and had a dream.

She wanted to photograph the aftermath of death.

“This was just in the middle of the night,” Sloan said. “I woke up and it was just one of those things like you felt like you just have to do. I couldn’t sleep after that. Those kinds of things stick with you.”

Her revelation was simple: she wanted to capture the aftermath of murder and the punishment that has garnered criticism and support for the state throughout the nation and the world.

So, with camera in hand, Barbara set off to talk to the families or murder victims, as well as the “forgotten victims” as Sloan calls them: the family members of those executed for the crime of murder.

“I knew I wanted to do a photography series on death row inmates, I just didn’t know what I was going to do,” Sloan said. “But I just had a revelation.”

Nearly two years after her long night, “Last Statement,” a photo and story exhibit is currently being shown at the Texas Prison Museum.

The exhibit — which features photographs of family members of victims and those executed for murder — includes 10 pieces, five of each.

The exhibit began showing Feb. 2 and, according to the museum’s director Jim Willett, the museum doesn’t plan to take it down anytime soon.

“We’ve had over 700 people come in just this past week,” Willett said. “It was attracted a lot of attention.”

Things moved fast for Sloan, and an unlikely companion presented herself as if by chance.

The day after Sloan decided that this project was the one she wanted to do, Kelly Prew, former assistant managing editor for The Huntsville Item, was serving as features editor and was assigned to cover a story on Sloan and her photography work.

Nearing the end of the interview, Sloan told Prew about her plans to do a photography exhibit on death row inmates.

When Sloan found out — as part of her work at The Item — that Prew had witnessed several executions the partnership was solidified.

After some time, it occurred to Prew the two should focus their attentions on the families of both the victim and the offender.

As soon as Sloan heard this, she knew it was the angle they had been searching for.

“We had been talking about the project for nearly a year, but did not know how we were going to go about it,” Sloan said. “We just immediately felt like this was the right way to go.”

“There was a struggle to find an angle,” Prew said. “But I when I would talk to people about (death row inmates) it was interesting to see that most of the family was very normal. In most cases the parents were just as befuddled about their children’s outcome.”

So, along with Prew’s experience in talking with victims from both sides and Sloan’s ability to capture them, they set off on a two-year journey that would test their beliefs and push them to the edge of their emotional limits.

“When you think about it, the (family members) are the one’s that are still living,” Sloan said. “The offender is executed, the victim is deceased, but the family on both sides is still left. And they carry their sadness and pain for generations.”

And for Prew, it was finally an opportunity to share the stories of the families of the people she had seen die.

“Talking with these people, it really is a large gamut of emotions,” Prew said. “I was just really compelled to tell their stories. For me, it just felt like everyone deserved a voice.”

Sloan said she had never really thought about the families of the offenders until the project began.

“You know, they have all this sadness, embarrassment and pain,” Sloan said. “It’s this burden they have to carry through life. And — like the victim in a murder — they’re just innocent people.”

"I started thinking about the lives execution leaves behind — the families of both the victims and those of the executed,” Prew said. “It really is a moving conversation to talk to a parent, any parent, who has lost a child. Those faces are the ones we hope speak through this project."

When Sloan and Prew initially worked on the project, they had intended to focus on the stories of the executed inmate’s families.

But after some discussion, the Huntsville Art Commission decided to sponsor the project, but requested that Sloan and Prew consider covering the stories of the victim’s families as well.

“The (Huntsville) Art Commission discussed it at length and decided it was an important work,” said coordinator Linda Pease. “The (commission) requested that if they were to fund it they would like to see her represent both the victims and the families of the executed. They felt it was important to show a balance.”

“You know, (the commission) really decided to stick their necks out, because this is a subject in Huntsville especially that people normally shy away from,” Sloan said.

Sloan said that a lot of attention has been placed on the offenders themselves — and the death penalty itself.

But Sloan and Prew had a different objective when they began this project.

“A lot of people want to talk about the death penalty, and this project is not about the death penalty,” Sloan said. “It is about compassion for the families that are subjected to something that is really out of their control.”

Sloan said that the reaction to the exhibit has been nothing but positive.

“I’ve had wonderful letters and phone messages from people thanking me for the exhibit and pointing out the sensitive side and the compassionate side of the death penalty,” Sloan said. “It’s been overwhelmingly positive.”

She said that nearly 100 people came for the opening night celebration at the museum.

Sloan said that she plans to continue the project.

Prew recently left The Item to take a position in Tyler, but still plans to work on the project.

“I would really like to continue this work and I’m looking for families of victims and offenders where the offender was executed,” Sloan said.

Pease said that the art commission is proud to have sponsored the event and are please with it’s outcome.

“ I would encourage everyone to go by and see it,” Pease said. “They are very powerful photographs. It's really a marvelous opportunity to see something so well done by a photographer who has really extraordinary skills.”

The Texas Prison Museum is located at 491 State Highway 75 North. For more information, phone the museum at (936) 295-2155.