Artist Interview — Jesse Krimes: Corrections | Met Exhibitions

Go behind the scenes with Jesse Krimes as he discusses his inspiration and artistic process for his works in the exhibition Jesse Krimes: Corrections, on view at The Met through July 13, 2025.

Krimes’s image-based installations, made over the course of his six-year incarceration, reflect the ingenuity of an artist working without access to traditional materials. Employing prison-issued soap, hair gel, playing cards, and newspaper he created works of art that seek to disrupt and recontextualize the circulation of photographs in the media. Displayed at The Met in dialogue with Bertillon, whose pioneering method paired anthropomorphic measurements with photographs to produce the present-day mug shot, Krimes’s work raises questions about the perceived neutrality of our systems of identification and the hierarchies of social imbalance they create and reinscribe. An artist for whom collaboration and activism are vital, Krimes founded the Center for Art and Advocacy to highlight the talent and creative potential among individuals who have experienced incarceration and to support and improve outcomes for formerly incarcerated artists.

Production credits:

Director and Managing Producer: Kate Farrell
Editor: Lucas Groth
Producer: Melissa Bell
Production Coordinator: Lela Jenkins
Production Assistant: Malvika Dang
Director of Photography: Jeffrey Johnson
Additional camera: Lucas Groth
Time Lapse Photography: Heather Johnson, Wilson Santiago, Jesse Ng
Sound Recording: Matt Modula
Web Production Coordinator: Ashliy Sabb
Original Music: Austin Fisher
Curator of Photographs: Lisa Sutcliffe

Special thanks to: Jesse Krimes, Jesse Krimes Studio, Emily Frieson, Jeff Rosenheim, Virginia McBride, Rachel Mustalish, Nora Kennedy, Aileen Marcantonio, Mary Allen, Natasha Kung, Leslie Zacharie, Colleen Watkins and The Met Installation and Design Teams.

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© 2024 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[lfeb]

I haven't been to prison, but jail and can totally relate...the arts are the best way to find purpose in this world beyond the anger and backlash of the boxes people want to put us in.❤ Just beautiful, very impressive!

[IsisRevisited]

Proud to have been an inaugural Right of Return fellow and have my art and practice supported by Jesse Krimes and Russell Craig! Seeing the ways in which our careers have blossomed since is invaluable❤

[maypenja]

I always enjoy hearing and seeing how creative people come up with new ways of using everyday materials in their artworks. We should not be dismissing incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people. Talented or not.

[lndarace]

The creative act cannot be suppressed ❤

[rickgelb]

Very nice and cool work by Jesse. Very impressed

[douglasfink]

Inspiring work! I would love to see these in person.

[quprey]

Worthy of the MET and more. Is his last name really Krimes tho lol that's funny

[ferminmorales]

Inspiring story... Wondering though how his inmate ID says eyes "BN" (brown?) but is in fact blue 🤔