Pictures of Australian women who ended up in prison in the 1920s

Someone looks a little tired or looks anxiously into the camera lens. The other one laughs casually, as if getting caught was so much fun. All of them are women who had to go to a Sydney police station a century ago for breaking the law. There they were arrested by a police photographer while in their cell. And now, more than a hundred years later, the British artist has done just that Matt Logre These photos brought to life.

Loughrey specializes in coloring black and white images, as well as animate still images. While staying in Australia for a few years, he decided to use these skills to delve deeper into the country’s history. The Vice President spoke to him from his home in County Mayo, Ireland.

VICE: Hey Matt, what’s the interesting thing about mugshots?
Matt Logre: Faces tell stories. Landscapes and buildings are lifeless and you cannot move around. But when you see someone’s face, you can really feel a story. And mugshots are humans in their most extroverted form. You have no way to go and you have no control over what happens – you have to give in.

Why do you think these Australian women were a suitable subject?
These women were well dressed, but taking an abstract photo was still very offensive – I found the contrast interesting. As a result, you as a viewer begin to think about exactly what you are seeing.

All of these photos have a different story. Which one did you find more interesting?
The character Alice Cook emerged. She is young, and I think she is possibly one of the most dangerous women in the series. Not because she stabbed people in the street – she was a rogue guy. Sociopath. She had fake identities and multiple marriages. Not because she’d all believed in it, but because she wanted to get something out of it.

Which shot did you find most moving?
The woman who has tried to abort herself – This is a very powerful image. You can’t judge people by their faces, but you can see how they reveal themselves. You see, I knew what to expect, like a deer staring at a car’s headlights. But at the same time, no one knows exactly what her life was like. Perhaps something very personal and tragic happened in her life that led to this moment.

What is the most inconsistent picture with the crime that was committed?
Barbara Turner. It’s hard to say if she was mocking everyone or actually getting caught, because she was so good at what she does. Often she pretends to be the victim herself, you can see that in her face. Or she was just caught.

Was there a picture in which I questioned whether to use it
Not in this group. But I did get one time when someone didn’t understand exactly what I’m doing – just a few days ago, when a nerd asked if I could animate a picture.

What’s Next?
He was just a professional photographer, and he’s also much appreciated. But what he asked was very sick. It was a picture of someone who was a friend of his, and who had all kinds of infamous plans for exactly what he wanted the cartoon to do. I politely said thank you for that.

Was this the most outstanding client you’ve ever had?
No, Jeff Bridges has my job, too. At first I thought it was a joke, but it turned out to be real. Arranged by its publisher, so cool.

What else looks good to you?
Sometimes I work with very confidential materials – sometimes I do something to the police, for example, to help find missing people. I worked on documentaries about unresolved crimes. Once I worked with a nephew Clarence en John AngelineWho escaped from Alcatraz. I had to do something intermittently for a couple of years, and so I was able to see things that no one else could see.

With projects like this, you also discover a lot of things that the general public is not fully aware of. Like how the Anglin brothers lived a very happy life after escaping from Alcatraz.

What are the possibilities of coloring old pictures as far as you are concerned?
There are many options available today – we can bring people back to life, thus getting young people excited about history, rather than letting them browse their textbooks with boredom. Coloring is a very good way to relive history, and more and more people are joining it.

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

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