Prisons: the Confined Separation. Photobooks as Glimpses Beyond the Walls is the new Dossier by Artphilein Library, dedicated to the theme of prison through a selection of contemporary photobooks.
This volume offers a visual journey that explores prison as a place of power, punishment, and control, but also as a space of resistance and potential transformation. From prison architecture to life behind bars, from the violations endured by minorities to artistic practices born within incarceration, photography becomes a tool to reveal the unseen, bridge distances, and restore humanity.

Alongside the selected photobooks from Artphilein Library’s collection, the Dossier features FINE PENA MAI by Veronica Barbato, focusing on the experience of prisoners’ families, and a critical essay by Filippo Brancoli Pantera on the historical and symbolic genesis of the modern prison.
What emerges is a mosaic of perspectives that does not offer definitive answers but invites reflection on justice, representation, and the responsibility of the gaze.