‘‘What is life like after you’ve gone to prison?’’
A few months ago we started a project, we wanted to know what life was like for people that have gone to prison in the Netherlands. We had a lot of questions: what brought them to this point in their life? Do people treat them differently? What kind of changes are they making in their lives to not end up back in prison? But most importantly we wanted to get to know them.
Below is our project book, here you can find more information about our thoughts behind the project and our idea’s…
(All images used in this post are curtesy of various different photographers and are used for the purpose of concept formalisation)
‘‘To show the empathy and emotion of a subject through portraiture.’’
‘‘ MY LIFE AFTER PRISON’’
People usually see someone who has been to prison as a bad person, even though there are plenty of ordinary people who just made a mistake, did their time for it and are trying to move on with life again. We think it is interesting to share the stories of people who have been in a difficult situation and to see what it is like to reintegrate into society.
We have since started into a partnership with Exodus. Exodus is an organisation that tries to help these people overcome the difficulties with this process.
Through this collaboration we came in contact with different people who would want to participate in the project. After meeting with everyone, we discovered that there is a lot of shame attached to being someone that has gone to prison.
“What would the neighbours think of me if they ever find out? “ One of them said.
Therefore we think that it’s important to do this project, a mistake that you have made in your past should not determine your future.
‘‘MY ENVIRONMENT’’
For most people its self-explanatory to have a job, a house, you have stability. For people that have gone to prison it’s not like that, getting hired somewhere or finding a place to live can seem impossible.
We want to show on the how people are trying to change their ways, their environment is an important part of that.
‘‘SEE MY LIFE THROUGH MY EYES’’
We would love everyone to see what their life is like though their eyes.
And we wanted them to be included in the process of the project as much as possible.
We gave everyone a disposable camera so we get a look into how life is for them.
