Probable cause

This is a story of an ongoing journey, visiting intimately an
underground world where the lines between the police and the
people they are protecting are blurred into one. Conducting a
ten-year investigation while embedded in the police force of Newark
NJ, Artist Matt Gunther gained access to a system where the means
of enforcement are as archaic as the very notion that simply enforcing
will solve the problems.
If you believe in karma, or are willing to entertain it as a metaphor,
you might think of the collective of humanity-and the human
microcosm of police officers, suspects, and victims so vividly shown
in Probable Cause-in the way that the Buddhist teacher Sharon
Salzberg describes it: "In this inconceivably immense reality, we have
all wandered forever... Through this timelessness we have all done
everything, every one of us: we have loved, hated, feared, killed,
raped, stolen, given, served, loved.... We are all one another's
parents, children, friends, lovers, and enemies, over and over again."

Matt Gunther, a native new Yorker, is
a film-maker and photographer who
has been documenting a sense of
place and moments of time
throughout his career. His portraits
endeavour to uncover and expose the
vulnerability and compassion - the
core of his subjects. Matt received his
Bachelor's in Fine Arts from SUNY
Purchase. Matt's work has been
featured in numerous international
and national publications, including
The New York Times Magazine,
Newsweek, London Sunday Times and
Gentlemen's Quarterly. His work has
been praised and written about in
American Photography, PDN, and
Communication Arts, among others.
Matt's work is in the permanent
collection of the Brooklyn Museum
and The Palais De Toyko in Paris.

Magical Thinking is a not-for-profit publishing and educational
initiative founded by Joshua Lutz and Tara Cronin in 2010. Its
commitment to furthering our understanding of the importance of how
images function revolves around a programme of books, exhibitions
and educational workshops.