Opening Reception for Photography Exhibit of Preston Castle

Description

Reformation: Transforming the Reformatory

Together, 45 photographers have transformed Preston Castle – the first juvenile detention center for boys in California – into an art museum. With 162 images installed throughout the California State Historical Landmark, this unique exhibition explores themes of crime and punishment, liberty and inequality, longing and belonging, innocence and impermanence. Photographers view the history of the reformatory through multiple lenses, with visual empathy for the boys who were wards there, including such well-known figures as musician Merle Haggard, beat poet Neal Cassady, and Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver. We shine a light on the moral morass of youth incarceration, noticing the shades of gray in the black-and-white stories we tell. We invite you to wander through the labyrinthine Castle for this extraordinary exhibit, which runs from April 5th - August 30th, 2025