Davenport goes beyond a beautiful place to get away from it all. Just minutes north on the Pacific Coast Highway, Davenport has stunning sweeping ocean and cliff views, the first national monument in the county, some awesome restaurants to tempt the passerby, and an idyllic little town.
This tiny two-cell jail was built in 1914 and decommissioned in 1936. In its entire history of being a working holding cell, only three legal prisoners were ever registered: a man who had too much to drink, and two boys from that county to the north who stole their uncle’s horse. Beyond that, incapacitated people were able to rest and recover from the night’s festivities in the small jail before walking home in the morning.
Over the last year, Watsonville-based artist Joshua Moreno has been tracing the movement of light through the decommissioned Davenport Jail. This site-specific installation is composed of graphite tracings made directly on the walls of the jail, marking fleeting reflections cast by the surrounding environment.
Head to jail for a culminating presentation of Joshua Moreno’s year long residency at Davenport Jail. This final viewing highlights the work developed through an extended period of experimentation and creative inquiry, offering insight into the evolution of Moreno’s practice over time.