Jenn Ackerman is a photographer based in Minneapolis who has received numerous awards for her work focusing on mental illness in prisons, HIV in rural America, and families in Appalachia. One of her most notable projects is called "Trapped," which documented the experiences of mentally ill prisoners and won Photojournalism Project of the Year. Through intimate photographs, she aimed to show how those with mental illnesses are often not properly treated and feel trapped within the prison system with nowhere else to go. Ackerman uses techniques like camera angles, lighting, and the rule of thirds to highlight her subjects and convey emotion. Her photos provide an intimate look at a rarely seen issue.

1. Jenn Ackerman
Photographer research.

2. Information.
• Jenn Ackerman is a photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been awarded many
awards, from being named in PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to watch to the Inge Morath
Award. She also won the Photojournalism competition on Human Rights.
• Her photographs have been recognized by the Inge Morath Award, Magnum Expression Award, CENTER
Project Competition, Photojournalism Competition on Human Rights, Emerging Photographer Fund, the
PGB Photo Award, the Honickman First Book Prize and others. In 2009, I was published in the
Communication Arts Photography Annual and named to Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass Top 50.
• She has done many projects that differ from each other an enormous amount, for example from
photographing beauty pageants to serious mental illnesses that are often misunderstood; the three main
things she looks at are mental illnesses in prisons, HIV in rural America and families living in Appalachia.

3. Jenn Ackerman states: “The system
designed for security is now trapped with
treating mental illness and the mentally
ill are often trapped inside the system
with nowhere else to go.”
• I am going to be focusing on one of her projects call Trapped which was named Non –
Traditional Photojournalism Publishing Project of the Year. Ackerman also made a
short film for her project which won an Emmy. For this project she took photographs in
prisons showing what it’s like for people with a mental illnesses and how their illnesses
are treated and handled. The photographs she takes are extremely intimate and I’m
not aware of another photographer that takes pictures like Jenn Ackerman and that’s
why her work stands out to me. She takes pictures of things that show a story behind
them and that aren’t often told.
• Jenn Ackerman has done this project to show that while the mentally ill are locked up
which is supposedly the best thing for them, they might be feeling trapped with
nowhere to go as they’re not allowed anywhere so their state of mind mightn’t improve
and how being locked up could affect their already poor state of mind.

4. Here Julia Lish, a correctional officer, comforts an prisoner during one his psychotic episodes. “Its going
to be OK,” she repeats as he cries and yells to the voices in his head. I like this picture as it will make
people feel massive emotion and I feel quite sympathetic towards the man as he’s basically being
comforted by a complete stranger and that’s the only comfort he has in the unit.
The colours used in this image make the whole atmosphere seem really gloomy and it has an emptiness
to it. The camera angle is also pointing down which may not mean anything more then good composition
but to me after researching this project thoroughly it could be a way of saying to the audience that
people shouldn’t look down on people like this.
Here Jenn Ackerman uses the rule of thirds to show a man struggling inside a sell and seeking help and
attention. I like the way she’s made the background almost completely black and the sole attention is on
the man. The arm reaching in to help him is also very noticeable. She highlights the two main things in
the photograph really well.

5. I think this project is one of Jenn
Ackerman's best one’s as by taking
these pictures she’s made everybody
aware of what life is like for somebody
dealing with their own demons inside.
She uses techniques such as the rule of
thirds and the contrast to make the
images really stand out and show the
mood that’s in the prison.
This is one of the prisoners who is in his cell 23 hours a day. Jenn Ackerman tries to get
across that maybe more should be done to help this prisoners and people on the outside
shouldn’t just forget about them and pretend it’s not happening.
“They are rejects of society and warehousing them in prison isn't the way to go. Most of
them don't have life sentences - they will get out some day.” says psychologist Dr. Tanya
Young. “What do they do when they get out? There needs to be something else to absorb
them or take them in,” she adds.
This pictures shows just how trapped the man is as you can see he can’t get out as there’s
the wire stopping him. He also has an urgent look on his face. Although this picture is
fairly simple, the lighting highlights his face and the wire stopping him from escaping. The
main things. This image makes him look frantic and panicked, extremely trapped.

6. My ideas
• For my project, using inspiration from Jenn Ackerman, I’d like to take image of peoples facial expressions
looking down or gloomy in an empty room.
• Another idea I’ve had is to show some things that go on in the fashion industry such as models sometimes
not eating because of the pressure on them. I think a way to represent this could be a sign on a board that
looks backstage at a fashion show saying no models on the catwalk before eating.