"If you could create a window in the prison walls,
what would you want the world to see?"
what would you want the world to see?"
In spring of 2014, as an extension of the Windows From Prison project, we worked with the amazing groups, Philadelphia FIGHTand Prison Health News, to flip the language of our prompt for a set of blank postcards that asked;
"If you could create a window in the prison walls, what would you want the world to see?”
5000 of these postcards were printed and sent out to prisoners and prison reform activist across the country. We’re just beginning to get these back, and they’re are amazing (keep posted for more uploads and an exhibit in Philly soon!).
The process of dehumanization is part and parcel to the experience of incarceration. From my perspective, Windows From Prison is concerned first and foremost with engaging with prisoners not as monsters, or “Others” as we often, if not always, see in photos or videos around prison issues, nor as mere numbers and statistics utilized by those on either side of socio-political debates. Instead, Windows From Prison begins with the radical belief, that by engaging with individuals as human beings (through dialogue and exchange), that something incredibly powerful, potentially therapeutic, and politically activating may arise.
"If you could create a window in the prison walls, what would you want the world to see?”
5000 of these postcards were printed and sent out to prisoners and prison reform activist across the country. We’re just beginning to get these back, and they’re are amazing (keep posted for more uploads and an exhibit in Philly soon!).
The process of dehumanization is part and parcel to the experience of incarceration. From my perspective, Windows From Prison is concerned first and foremost with engaging with prisoners not as monsters, or “Others” as we often, if not always, see in photos or videos around prison issues, nor as mere numbers and statistics utilized by those on either side of socio-political debates. Instead, Windows From Prison begins with the radical belief, that by engaging with individuals as human beings (through dialogue and exchange), that something incredibly powerful, potentially therapeutic, and politically activating may arise.