Named after the FBI investigation that unleashed a nationwide college admissions scandal in March 2019, Operation Varsity Blues pairs excerpts from the FBI’s 200-page affidavit—specifically, every mention of the “side door” bribing scheme—with photographs of side doors that I photographed on Yale’s campus. The book uses the visual language of redactions and inverted photography to convey the voyeuristic experience of reading the affidavit, which includes multiple wiretapped phone conversations. The front and back covers depict a close-up of Yale’s Memorial Quadrangle Gate, which is almost always locked.
Yale’s Memorial Quadrangle Gate, forged by Samuel Yellin in 1922.
