In the context of the penal system, the voices of people affected by incarceration are often mediated, restricted, or silenced. It was therefore important for this research project to create a space in which these voices could be heard and their perspectives on prison architecture could become tangible. For these reasons, I designed a workshop that allows for visual forms of expression and knowledge production. Through a visual exploration of prison architecture, the workshop seeks to reflect the sensory, spatial, and emotional dimensions of incarceration from the perspective of those who experience it directly.

Each participant was given modeling clay, paper, a pen, and an ink pad. Over three hours, they were invited to move through their environment and take impressions of surfaces and objects using the clay, then transfer these onto paper using the ink pad. They could add written annotations, titles, or anyother marks they chose. The prints capture something an interview could not—a direct, physical engagement with the space. Each person developed their owntechnique and left their own traces: fingerprints, handling marks, names, cellnumbers, titles. The results are both documentation and self-inscription.

The participants in this project appear here under pseudonyms, assigned based on the languages they spoke and the nationalities I inferred from them.

‍

For a more extensive version of this chapter, download the full text.

Jakub

selected a mix of security-related and everyday objects, including the door lock, window bars, prison slders, telephone buttons, and a 20 kg weight plate. His successful imprint of a door lock—despite it being prohibited—highlights the omnipresence of architectural boundaries and control mechanisms. Alongside these, he also documented the workshop itself by making an imprint of the lid of the modeling clay container itself (Knete für Projekt). He labeled his prints with his cell number.

Lorenzo

selects personal, everyday objects and symbolic motifs for his prints. Central among them are the Knast-Adiletten (prison “sliders”), which—as he explained to me in conversation—he perceives as inferior compared to the Birkenstocks he used to wear. He describes the plastic material as unpleasant because it makes him sweat more quickly and does not feel as comfortable as the natural material of his Birkenstocks. He would like to replace them, but cannot afford to do so.

At the same time, he titles his prints Die Blüte der Hoffnung (The Blossom of Hope) and Das Gefangene Pferd (The Captured Horse), which he assigns to prints of plastic plants and the “knight” chess piece. These titles suggest an imaginative engagement with his situation what could be read as expressing longing, restriction, and a desire for escape. His conscious decision, in his own words, to become “poetic” can be understood as an attempt to introduce an additional layer of meaning into an otherwise limited space.

He also makes an imprint of the structure of a handle of a piece of equipment from the fitness room. He then places a fingerprint on the center of the print. He layered the impersonal with the personal. The imprint of the fitness equipment handle captures a repetitive, institutional object—something standardized, shared, and tied to routine bodily discipline. By adding his fingerprint onto this structured surface, he inscribes his own identity onto an otherwise anonymous and regulated environment.

‍

Lorenzo labeled his prints with his cell number.

Pablo

focuses on a range offunctional and everyday elements of prison life, including a toaster, stairwell, as well as recreational and training equipment.

Notably, he does not label his prints himself but asks others to do so on his behalf. At the same time, he marks the prints with his first name, making a form of authorship and presence visible.

The Spanish-speaking man asks another participant to write the objectdescriptions on his sheets for him. He then adds his name himself. (Fieldnotes, PD3)

This tension is also evident in his work with the modeling clay itself: with the imprint titled Meine Stimmung (My Mood), he initially forms a smiley with upward-curving lips,which he then alters and passes on to another participant, which reads like acollective gesture.

Particularly striking is his attempt to take an imprint of a door lock which is subsequently destroyed by a supervisor. His complaint about this suggests a tension between his desire for expression and institutional restrictions.

We walk together with a man and a supervisor. The man climbs a fewstairs to the second floor and takes an imprint of a door lock. The doorseparates the corridor behind it from the stairwell. “The lock is forbidden,”the supervisor says. “Es prohibido,” he repeats several times in Spanish. Theman laughs and places his imprint on a windowsill. The supervisor then crushesthe imprint with a forceful fist-punch and repeats, “Es prohibido!” The manasks why. “Punto!” the supervisor replies, repeating it several times on theway back to the library. (Fieldnotes, PD3)

Matteo

focuses on a set of everyday objects and surfaces, including the telephone, achess piece, and the grated floor. Three additional prints—likely taken from different surfaces—remain unnamed, suggesting either a more intuitive approach or a reduced emphasis on categorization. The imprint Türe besetzt/frei (door occupied/free) highlights a binary system of access and control that structures daily routines, pointing to regulated use of shared spaces.

Michal

produced a large number of imprints in the laundry room, suggesting that this space holds particular significance for him. This is likely because he spends a considerable amount of time there as part of his assigned work, washing other inmates’ clothes and preparing fresh sets of bed linens, towels, and washcloths.

He engaged with the task inan expansive and exploratory manner, going beyond the initial instructions. For instance, he used his fingers to apply ink directly from the stamp pad, modifying and extending the prints. Toward the end of the workshop, he asked formore time and referred to himself as an artist.

Michal made his prints on one side of the paper and added written labels on the reverse.