Grand Lobby & Second Floor
Brooklyn Public Library is pleased to present Photo Requests from Solitary (PRFS), a collaborative project that invites individuals in solitary confinement to request an image of anything at all, real or imagined, and finds artists and volunteers to create them. This exhibition provides a glimpse into the interests, memories, and dreams of people living in extreme isolation.
BPL hosts the first New York exhibition featuring photos and requests from all five states where PRFS has worked. This site-specific installation of requests and photographs created from them are located in the Grand Lobby and on the Second Floor balcony. Viewers are welcome to fulfill open requests, and will also have the opportunity to learn about the campaign to end long-term solitary confinement in New York’s prisons and jails. Free and open to the public during library hours.
The exhibition is part of BPL Presents' season focus on criminal justice, Freedom Index, including a series of talks, screenings and public programs.
To learn more about the project and view requests, click here.
To participate, please browse the requests, make a photo (drawings are OK, too!) and upload it to the site. (See the FAQ on the Information page for full instructions.) We will send a print of your image to the person who requested it.
PROGRAMS (register online)
Join us on our upcoming event, Brooklyn, Let's Fill Requests, May 28th, 6:30-8pm at Central Library.
Join us for our exhibition finale event, You Made What They Wanted to See: Images for People in Solitary Confinement, June 20, 6:30-8pm at Central Library.
Preview the Exhibit
Photo Requests from Solitary is a project of Solitary Watch, with support from the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation. Photo Requests from Solitary is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
