Flip Side: Prison Stories

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Flip Side: Prison Stories is an immersive installation that invites the viewer to explore the lived experience of women prisoners in a system in which they are too often stigmatised and portrayed as violent and unstable.
Employing a documentary technique and focusing on the kinds of footage generally dismissed as ‘b-roll’, Cesco exposes the humour of prison life and the relationships which sustain these women in their everyday negotiations with the prison regime.
Cesco approached the project as a collaboration. The women were actively involved in the creative process, designing and making the masks that obscure their identities. They were also invited to supply the personal letters that offer a further insight into their experiences.
The installation is designed to replicate a traditional ‘support group’ scenario, inviting viewers to become participants in the scene rather than mere observers. We are invited to contemplate the social inequalities that victimise women and lead to their incarceration.