Last Words2016

A data visualization of the final statements made by 533 death row inmates executed in Texas since 1982. Rather than analyzing demographics, the project focuses on what people actually said — the emotional content of their last words. Using R for topic modeling and D3.js for interactive mapping, each statement is positioned in a two-dimensional space where proximity reflects thematic similarity. The most prominent words across all statements — love, family, god, sorry, thank — reveal a shared emotional landscape that transcends the circumstances of each case. The project evolved through several visual approaches: spatial scatter plots color-coded by race (which showed no meaningful correlation), composite facial imagery (rejected as dehumanizing), and ultimately large-scale word clouds paired with individual portrait-statement combinations. The final installation was exhibited at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. With Julia Oran, Evan Carter, and Em K Reishus.