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Winner Story

Facing Life by Pendarvis Harshaw and Brandon Tauszik

Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw and photographer/filmmaker Brandon Tauszik teamed up on the project Facing Life, a website dedicated to sharing the stories of eight individuals who have been released from life sentences in California prisons. Starting in 2018, Pendarvis and Brandon recorded the experiences of Travielle, Lynn, Gary, Fahim, Myra, Jose, Robin and Melvin as they readjust to life outside of prison, and the challenges of making a new life after decades inside. This stunning piece of multimedia journalism won 2023 Best in Show: Websites – Activism, 2023 Gold: Websites – Features: Best Editorial Experience and 2023 Gold: Websites – Features: Best Use of Photography.

We spoke with them both about the project to get a deeper look into the stories and process behind their multiple award-winning website.

What inspired the inception of Facing Life? How did this all start?
Brandon: Pendarvis and I were both living and working in Oakland long before we collaborated on Facing Life. He found my work through a project called Tapered Throne and I found his work through OG Told Me, a Tumblr project-turned-book he released back in 2017. Pendarvis was teaching creative writing at a prison in 2018 and this subject matter was on both of our minds.

Pendarvis: On top of our appreciation for each other’s work and a common interest in doing something about mass incarceration in the U.S., specifically California, we saw what was happening in our community. Mass incarceration had left the California prison system overcrowded to the point the federal government was forced to intervene. This resulted in a forced depopulation of the prison system, where changes to laws led to non-violent offenders and older folks who’d served lengthy sentences were now given the chance to approach the prison board seeking freedom. And this left us with a question about those who’d served decades: who is there to support their reentry back into society? What we found is that it’s largely formerly incarcerated people supporting themselves.

Tell us about your roles and the expertise you brought to Facing Life.
Brandon: We had both created independent multimedia projects in the past, handling all aspects of production on our own as individuals. With Facing Life, the production allowed for us as individuals to focus on our core talents – myself on the visuals and Pendarvis on the reporting.

Jose Espinoza - Stockton, CA | Cinemagraph by: Brandon Tauszik

Pendarvis: I took on most of the writing, while Brandon focused on making visual assets. What really anchored this project were the cinemagraphs Brandon produced. It’s one thing to read someone’s story or hear them talk in video interviews, it’s another experience to sit with their image and really look at someone. And that was one of the goals of this project, to get people to slow down and see other people as… people, no matter what they’ve done in the past.

Brandon Tauszik (Left) and Robin Marlowe (Right)

Describe your biggest obstacle or challenge for the project.
Brandon: Once we kicked off the project with funding from the Pulitzer Center, meeting participants to profile was more difficult than we had estimated. We had to find folks that were recently released from serving life sentences and we wanted a diverse range of people located all throughout California. We visited parole meetings, met other former lifers, and sought advice from many nonprofits to eventually find the eight amazing individuals that we profiled.

Pendarvis: Narrowing down their stories was pretty hard. You’ve got to imagine, these are people who have barely ever spoken to the media. If there is any press out there about them, it’s centered around their crime. So I had to be mindful to show them as full humans, with childhoods, dreams, quirks, talents, scars, mistakes and redemptive qualities. All of that, while not glossing over the fact that they all did in fact take actions that directly or indirectly led to the death of another person. It was a balance and an exercise in storytelling that I’d never previously experienced. I’m grateful to have had the support of our editor, Carvell Wallace, as well as the openness of the people we interviewed. They did a true service to the community by sharing their stories.

Travielle Pope (left) and his two godsons Dmonta and James - Los Angeles, CA
Cinemagraph by: Brandon Tauszik

Which aspects of Facing Life are you both most proud of?
Brandon: Although the project has garnered attention in many large publications, I take pride in its independence from the volatility of the media industry. The project belongs solely to us, hosted on our own domain. It’s not paywalled, and we’ve had people currently incarcerated reach out to say they are looking at it while in prison. That means the world to us.

Melvin Smith (Left) and Pendarvis Harshaw (Right)

Pendarvis: The fact the people in the stories feel well represented feels good. I appreciate the lasting impact of it all as well. We published it over two years ago and it’s still relevant, for better or worse, as issues of overcrowded prisons and methods of reentry continue to be a major topic in California and throughout the country.

If you had an unlimited budget, what would you have added or done differently?
Brandon: I don’t think our approach or workflow would have changed, but touring the work with the participants after we released it would have been great.

Pendarvis: I don’t know if money would’ve changed anything, but showing this inside of prisons across the U.S. would’ve been major. I think people who are on the cusp of changing their lives could really use this as motivation.

Lynn Acosta - Monterey, CA | Cinemagraph by: Brandon Tauszik

What does winning a w3 Award mean to you?
Pendarvis: For me, seeing Travielle speak at USC, a prestigious university located around the corner from where he grew up in South Central was an award. He’d never been in a classroom on the campus prior to speaking about his past. And when he spoke, those young folks listened. That was a golden trophy.

Brandon: While seeking recognition can sometimes seem vain, winning an award can provide momentum and open doors for future projects. This is always important when creating difficult, long-term work.

 

Brandon Tauszik (Left), Jose Espinoza (Center) and Pendarvis Harshaw (Right)

Are you telling impactful stories like Pendarvis and Brandon? The w3 Awards accepts narrative projects across numerous media types including websites, film & video, social content, and more. Enter now before the Early Entry Deadline on May 3rd to take advantage of preferred early entry pricing.

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