the prison photo project

The objective of the prison photo project international is to provide insights into contemporary places of detention in Europe. Until now, establishments of deprivation of liberty in Switzerland, Portugal and Germany have been visited and photographed. The plan is to continue to document prisons in other European countries.

Four exhibitions have already been realized, three in Portugal and one in Switzerland, all but one in former prisons converted into museums and exposition centres.

The prison photo project international is based on an initiative of the prison historian Daniel Fink and the photographer Peter Schulthess who have been joining forces and sharing ideas since 2002, to mount exhibitions and publish books.

The Projects in Portugal and Switzerland

more about the portuguese prison photo project...

the portuguese prison photo project is a prison documentation and exhibition project using photography that was initiated by Daniel Fink in 2015 in Porto. It provides  insights into contemporary prisons of Portugal, from the largest and oldest dating back to 1880 to the newest ones shot by Luis Barbosa, a Portuguese photographer, and Peter Schulthess, a Swiss photographer, in three phases between 2016 and 2023.

Three exhibitions of pictures have already taken place, two in former prisons transformed into museum, the Centro Português de Fotografia (CPF), in Porto, and the Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade, in Lisbon; these exhibitions also comprised a historical part, with prison photographs from State archives, curated by Maria José Moutinho Santos. A third exhibition was held in the National Archives Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. The next exhibition will be hosted by the Museu de Portimão, in the south of Portugal, due to open on the 19 April 2024. For the first time, it will include photographs of political prisons in use until 1974.

more about the project in Switzerland…

the swiss prison photo project is a prison documentation and exhibition project using photography that was started in 2017 in Berne. It provides insights into contemporary prisons of Switzerland, from the largest to the smallest, from the oldest dating back to 1864 to the newest one which was opened in 2020. The photographs have all been shot by the Swiss photographer Peter M. Schulthess in the years 2017 to 2019.

One exhibition of his photographs has taken place so far, at the Polit-Forum in Berne. The exhibition of 2019/2020 provided insights into 26 establishments of deprivation of liberty representing around two thirds of all detention places of Switzerland. It was combined with a film cycle on the subject of prisons, round table discussions on sanctions and imprisonment, a concert of contemporary music, guided tours and a book vernissage. A next exhibition is in planning in the Italian part of Switzerland.

Timeline

Publication 2024

A 3-volume publication is planned for October 2024
learn more…

Portimão 2024

Museu de Portimão

19. 4. – 1. 9. 2024
(19 weeks/110 days open)
www.prisonphotoproject.pt

Lisbon 2021

Torre do Tombo

19.10.2021 – 5.1.2022
(11 weeks/55 days open)
learn more…

Berne 2019 – 2020

Polit-Forum Bern

15. 11. 2019 – 4. 4. 2020
(20 weeks/141 days open)
www.prisonphotoproject.ch

Lisbon 2019

Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade

11. 5. – 29. 9. 2019
(20 weeks/100 days open)
learn more…

Porto 2017

Centro Português de Fotografia (CPF)

9. 9. – 3. 12. 2017
(12 weeks/73 days open)
learn more…

The Publications 2024

A 3-volume publication | 2 photobooks softcover with flaps | 1 brochure with photographs and texts in Portuguese and English | about 364 pages total | 244 x 297 mm | sold only as a set

Release date planned for October 2024. A pre-sale (subscription) starts soon.

We are working on a publication of the portuguese prison photo project with hundreds of photographs from Luis Barbosa and Peter Schulthess. A separate volume, written by Daniel Fink and Gilda Santos, will describe the project, the exhibitions, the prisons and the photographs. Price and publisher will be communicated later.

Information requests: info@gefo.ch

A 3-volume publication: 2 photobooks softcover with flaps + 1 brochure with photographs and texts in Portuguese and English. About 364 pages total (244 x 297 mm). Sold as a set

Content volume 1: Black and white photographs from Luis Barbosa, taken 2016–2023 in the prisons (Estabelecimento Prisional) de Beja, da Guarda, de Évora, Faro, Leiria (Jovens), Odemira, Silves, Viseu.

Content volume 3: Preface, concept and history of the project, conferences. Exhibitions at the Centro Português de Fotografia in Porto 2017, at the Museo do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade in Lisbon 2019, at the National Archives Torre do Tombo 2021, and at the Museu de Portimão in 2024. Description of the prisons and legends of the photographs in volumes 1 and 2.

Lisbon 2021

Exhibition and Conference

19.10.2021 – 5.1.2022 (11 weeks – 55 open days)

Exhibition space of Torre do Tombo. National Archives of Portugal | Monumental new building from 1991 | based on the campus of the University of Lisbon in the Campo Grande city district. The new building of the National Archives holds state-related documents, historic files and more recent publications of all sorts, and accommodates its administrative offices, a reading room and spaces for exhibitions.

  

Torre do Tombo: National Archives of Portugal, monumental new building from 1991 based on the campus of the University of Lisbon in the Campo Grande city district

Exhibition space about 500 m² in one room

Covid-conform conference, organised by the exhibition team of the National Archives Torre do Tombo on the inauguration day, with 5 speakers: 3 from Portugal, 1 from Spain and 1 from Switzerland.

Lisbon 2019

Exhibition and Conference

11. 5. – 29. 9. 2019 (20 weeks – 100 open days)

12'000 visitors

Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade From the 19th century until 1928 a prison for women I From 1928 to 1965 a prison of the PIDE, the political police of the Estado Novo regime I Since 2015 Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade. The Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade is dedicated to the memory of the fight against the dictatorship and the resistance in favour of freedom and democracy. Its permanent exhibition documents the systematic use of torture and the inhuman conditions of detention. It remembers the victims of persecution and detention, torture, exile, deportation and, often, death.
Situated in the historical quarter of Lisbon, the building of Aljube dates back to the Roman and Islamic period, and it was almost always a prison: an ecclesiastic prison, a prison for women and, finally, a political prison from 1928 to 1965.

  

Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade in Lisbon (since 2015 Museum of resistance and liberty)

Exhibition space of 77 m² distributed in 2 rooms

Conference on Prisons in Europe and Portugal with 15 speakers from 6 nations. Conference proceedings, published in 2022.

Porto 2017

Exhibition and Conference

9. 9. – 3. 12. 2017 (12 weeks – 73 open days)

32'000 visitors

Centro Português de Fotografia CPF. Built in the 1770s as a prison and courthouse | Since 1997 hosts the Centro Português de Fotografia CPF | Competence and exhibition centre. The CPF has the mandate to manage the national photographic archive, to promote the heritage in this field, to care for the collection of photographic equipment and to organize exhibitions of works of photographers. Situated in the centre of the city of Porto, the building has been renovated to accommodate all functions of the CPF, but remains an impressive witness of past prison times.

  

Centro Português de Fotografia CPF: Built in the 1770s as a prison and courthouse

Centro Português de Fotografia CPF: Built in the 1770s as a prison and courthouse

Photographs of historical prisons: 42, small size, presented on a cube with backlight, 60 projected on a screen of 3 × 4 m.