Levon and Kennedy

• Photographer
  Isabelle Armand, United States
• Studio
  isabelle armand
• Socials
• Website
  https://www.isabellearmandphotography.com

This series is excerpted from a photographic essay of 70
photographs dedicated to LEVON BROOKS and KENNEDY BREWER,
who were both wrongfully convicted in separate cases of the rape
and murder of a three year old girl. Levon received a life sentence
and spent 18 years in prison. Kennedy received a death sentence
and spent 15 years in prison, many of them on death row. Years
later, they were exonerated through the efforts of the Innocence
Project and new DNA testing.
These are photographs of them and their families, and life in
Macon and Brooksville, Mississippi where they grew up a few miles
away from each other.
We too often read with fleeting outrage about such exonerations
in the media, but after reading about their cases, I felt compelled
to tell their stories through images. By putting faces on these
anonymous cases, it will bring closer to us the reality of wrongful
convictions, which rob innocents of their lives and destroy
families. There are hundred of existing cases nationwide, and it
can and does happen to anyone.
It used to be that besides wealth and status, men and women
earned respect through character, the spirits and strength of
Levon and Kennedy and their families are undeniable. Through
their story, we can imagine the plight of hundreds of families and
give a voice to those among us who are rarely heard or seen. It can
bring recognition and respect to Levon and Kennedy, and to all the
other exonerees, even to those who didn’t survive their ordeal.
This is also a story about hope.

• Biography
  Isabelle Armand is a French born American photographer whose work concentrates on documentaries. Using B &W film and 6 x 7 and 6 x 6 formats, she created several ongoing photographic series. Her latest book focusing on wrongful conviction, Levon and Kennedy: Mississippi Innocence Project, has been widely acclaimed. Armand is currently exploring the relationship between poverty and memory in the town of Glendora in the Mississippi Delta, the poorest area in the nation.
• Awards
  FONDATION CUVELIER- Grant Recipient 2019 & 2020 PARIS PHOTO PRIZE 2018, Curator Selection, The State Of The World, Espace Beaurepaire, Paris, July 2018. SHOEN FOUNDATION- Grant Recipient 2017 PX3 2015 - Honorable Mention - Category Collections- Brooklyn Museum- Akron Art Museum- Portland Museum Of Art. Private Collections in US, Great Britain and France Press-Art In America- FStop Magazine-National Press Photographers Magazine.- The Economist- Connaissance des Arts- Vogue Brazil- Acne Paper- The Eye of Photography – Slate- Everyday Incarceration - Innocence Project News-Lifeforce Magazine- The Clarion-Ledger-Issue Magazine- Monovisions- The Daily Beast-The Intercept- The New York Times. Publisher PowerHouse Books Book Release March 27, 2018- "Levon and Kennedy: Mississippi Innocence Project" by Isabelle Armand