Laura Kurgan’s new book Close Up At A Distance: Mapping, Technology, and Politics is reviewed by Sara Johnson in The Atlantic and by Trevor Paglen in BookForum. The video above is Kurgan discussing the ‘Million Dollar Blocks’ project which also makes its way into the book. As Paglen explains:

Million-Dollar Blocks visualizes the “microgeography” of mass imprisonment by color-coding blocks of New York City neighborhoods by their incarceration rates. The visualizations highlight remarkable facts about the criminal-justice system, including that the vast majority of imprisoned persons come from an astonishingly small number of neighborhoods, and primarily from particular blocks within these neighborhoods…The project is a powerful critique of mass incarceration, one that requires viewers to consider the specific geographies behind it.

The map in question can be seen here.