Contacts

Anon.

Contacts, c. 1975

Woven cigarette boxes

Rikers Island, Queens, New York

Contacts is a book for telephone numbers. Its jacket is created from bands of cigarette box
covers woven together to make a patterned surface. Patterns on the surface
appear in one of two formulations. Some are diamond-shaped squares that repeat
alternating motifs of a tower with an ogee dome and images of palm trees in a
courtyard. The other prominent pattern is more abstract, consisting of arched
fragments assembled to create a chain-like borders that define the center of
the cover and highlight the previously mentioned motifs.

Rikers Island is a well-known prison often cited for its violence and prisoner abuses. In 1975, twelve hundred inmates seized control of the Men’s Correctional facility using homemade weapons. Five corrections officers were taken hostage but none were harmed. The takeover was well organized. Inmates demanded better medical care, more phone time, longer visiting hours and cleaner living conditions. These demands were presented before four media anchors chosen by the inmates themselves. Additionally, United States District Judge Morris E. Lasker was brought in to hear their complaints. The corrections officers were released and prisoner requests granted.