“Grace Before Dying” at Gage Gallery | Exhibition review

Photo from "Grace Before Dying"

Photo: Lori Waselchuk

In “Grace Before Dying,” Lori Waselchuk’s camera follows inmate-hospice workers who help terminally ill prisoners die with dignity inside Louisiana’s State Penitentiary, where 80 percent of prisoners die behind bars. That number includes George Alexander, incarcerated in 1972 for possession of two bags of heroin. Using a panoramic format that emulates the nature of a prison, the photos inside Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University follow Alexander, a cancer victim, from hospice to memorial to respectful burial. It’s a story that warms the heart. So much so, if it weren’t for recent, well-publicized research proving the overwhelming advantages of inmate-hospice programs, Waselchuk’s tight edits might feel manipulative.