Photo Requests from Solitary

Project inviting people in solitary confinement to request images they would like to see

2009–present

Description
Photo Requests from Solitary invites men and women in solitary confinement to request a photograph of anything at all, real or imagined, and finds an artist to make the image. Though foremost a form of support to people in isolation, the project is also designed to advance efforts to abolish solitary confinement.

Credits
PRFS was started in 2009 by Laurie Jo Reynolds and members of Tamms Year Ten (TY10), the grassroots legislative campaign to close Tamms supermax prison in Illinois. A year after TY10 was launched , Governor Pat Quinn introduced a reform plan, and in 2012, he proposed closing the prison outright. In spite of tremendous opposition from the guards' union and downstate legislators, Quinn closed Tamms in January 2013. In partnership with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the project then expanded to prisoners in California and New York, and later Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all states with astronomical numbers of people in solitary confinement. Photo Requests from Solitary is now housed at Solitary Watch and is co-organized by Jean Casella, Jeanine Oleson, and Laurie Jo Reynolds.

Requests

Photos

Photo Requests from Solitary website

The Photo Requests from Solitary website invites visitors to browse the hundreds of requests and photos already submitted, choose a request to fill, and upload their own photos. Orginally designed for the ongoing installation at Eastern State Penitentiary, the website has since been displayed as an interactive element at the Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University and an exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library. Try the website here.

(video: prfs options: controls)

Recent Exhibits

2019
Photo Requests from Solitary, Brooklyn Public Library, April 20-July 1

2018
On the Inside Out, Monroe-Brown Gallery, Gwen Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University (curated by Indra K. Lacis), September 20-October 28

Photo Requests from Solitary, Howland Public Library, Beacon NY, June 9-July 7

Photo Requests from Solitary, Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, May 4-EXTENDED TO PRESENT

Photo Requests from Solitary, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, Manhasset NY, January 14-February 13

2017
Bending the Frame, PREUS Museum, Horten/Oslo, Norway (curated by Fred Ritchin, Tina Enghoff & Ingrid Nilsson), October 15, 2017-March 4,

Photo Requests from Solitary, Photoville NYC, Brooklyn Bridge Park (PRS), September 13-24

Photo Requests from Solitary, New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, Lobby Day, Capitol Building, Albany, May 2

2016
Bending the Frame, Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark (curated by Fred Ritchin, Tina Enghoff, Kristine Kern & Laura Ifversen), August 26-October 23

Arresting Patterns: Perspectives on Race, Criminal Justice, Artistic Expression and Community, The African American Museum in Philadelphia, April 30-September 11

Arresting Patterns: Race and the Criminal Justice System, Artspace, New Haven (curated by Sarah Fritchey), July 17-September 13

2015
Celebrating Wave & Particle, 15th Anniversary Group Exhibition of Creative Capital, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York (PRS), February 14-March 21

Citizen Culture: Art and Architecture Shape Policy, The Rubin Center, University of Texas, El Paso (curated by Lucia Sanroman), February 5-April 25

Selected Press

Doreen St. Félix. "Photo Booth: What Do People in Solitary Confinement Want to See?" New Yorker. 7 Jul. 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/photo-requests-from-solitary-confinement

Photo Requests from Solitary, “What People in Solitary Confinement Want to See.” Jewish Currents, vol. 72. no. 4 (687), Summer Supplement, 2018. https://jewishcurrents.org/what-people-in-solitary-confinement-want-to-see/

Achilles Williams. "Solitary Watch offers inmates photographs beyond a gray wall." San Quentin Times. 13 May 2018. https://sanquentinnews.com/solitary-watch-offers-inmates-photographs-beyond-gray-wall/

Amelia Camurati. “Congregants Push for Prison System Reform with Solitary Confinement Art Exhibit.” The Island Now, 16 Jan. 2018. https://theislandnow.com/news-98/congregants-push-prison-system-reform-solitary-confinement-art-exhibit/

David M. Schwartz. “Photos for Prisoners in Solitary confinement on Exhibit.” Newsday. 15 Jan. 2018. https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/solitary-confinement-art-1.16183593

Priscilla Frank. “Prisoners in Solitary Confinement Requested Photos of the Outside World — and Here They Are.” The Huffington Post, 6 Dec. 2017. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/solitary-confinementphot_n_3950622?utm_hp_ref=arts

Hanna Kozlowska. “Visions of Freedom: These Images Capture the Dream Life of Prisoners in Solitary Confinement.” Quartz, 15 Sept. 2017. https://qz.com/1076513/photoville-photo-requests-from-solitary-captures-the-dream-life-of-prisoners-in-isolation/

Victoria Law. “Photos: What People Locked Up for 23 Hours a Day Yearn to See.” Gothamist, 15 Sept. 2017. https://gothamist.com/2017/09/15/solitary_confinement_art.php

Tempesta, Erica. “Men Serving Life Sentences in Solitary Confinement Given Chance to Request One Image.” DailyMail, 9 Oct. 2015. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3267038/Men-serving-life-sentences-solitary-confinement-given-chance-request-one-image-cell-choices-range-salacious-sentimental.html

“Photo Requests from Solitary Confinement.” VICE Magazine, vol. 22, no. 10, 8 Oct. 2015. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7bd7x9/photo-requests-from-solitary-0000770-v22n10

Rhett Jones. “Ending Solitary Confinement Through Viral Art.” Animal, 30 Dec. 2013. http://animalnewyork.com/2013/ending-solitary-confinement-viral-art/

Justine Sharrock. “Supermax Prisoners In Solitary Were Given One Photo Request — This Is What They Asked For.” BuzzFeed News, 18 Nov. 2013. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/justinesharrock/supermax-solitary-prisoners-in-solitary-were-given-one-photo

Laurie Jo Reynolds. Interview by Phoebe Judge. “In Solitary Confinement, Requesting the Outside World.” The Story, American Public Media, 27 Sept. 2013. http://www.thestory.org/stories/2013-09/solitary-confinement-requesting-outside-world-0

Louise Boyle. “My childhood home, my mom with a mansion... and J-Lo's derriere: The strangely touching requests for pictures from supermax prison’s ‘worst of the worst’ inmates stuck in solitary for the rest of their lives.” Daily Mail, 25 Sept. 2013. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425324/Photos-request-prisoners-kept-solitary-confinement-notorious-supermax-Tamms-prison-Illinois.html

Prachi Gupta. “What prisoners in solitary want to see.” Salon.com, 25 Sept. 2013. https://www.salon.com/2013/09/25/what_prisoners_in_solitary_want_to_see/

Hamilton Nolan. “Photo requests from inmates in solitary.” Gawker, 17 Sept. 2013. https://gawker.com/photo-requests-from-inmates-in-solitary-1333499315

Laurie Jo Reynolds. Interview by Lauren Chooligan. “Photographers Give Illinois Prisoners a Glimpse of the Outside World.” WBEZ [Chicago], 16 Nov. 2012. https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/photographers-give-illinois-prisoners-a-glimpse-of-the-outside-world/2ceb5bc6-499f-4e8b-b642-0e5f4a548cdc