A better future

PISTOIA
Humanity has always expressed itself through images.
With graffiti, paintings, photographs and even murals, men and women have passed on their emotions.
The desire for freedom, the desire to change, the hope for a better future are the heart of the murals created by prisoners in the Pistoia prison. The idea of offering a space to communicate through images and words on the walls of the penitentiary institute comes from the cultural association Elektro Domestik Force supported by the Cassa di Risparmio Pistoia e Pescia Foundation. The summer months were dedicated by the inmates to the creation of these works, which were truly interesting and full of meaning.

Their creation is the result of planning meetings for the choices of the spaces in which to place them, the symbolic subjects and the key words to inspire. The mural created in the sports field is inspired by the theme Journey between past and future: a spaceship headed towards a planet that resembles a soccer ball while the sea, which a demolished wall allows to enter a detention room, dominates in the drawing created on a wall of the multipurpose room.
Around an arch on the upper floor, against the background of an Alpine landscape dominated by the words "sacrifice, hope, freedom", the tree of hope now stands.
Instead of leaves it has unaddressed letters, perhaps messages to the outside world or perhaps pages from books. A brain is engraved on the cortex to remind us that to break down the bars, study, commitment and awareness are needed.

NAPLES
From artistic expression to the art of "cut and sew". The ties of the penitentiary police will be signed “Marinella”. "A new beginning. Internal tailoring in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison, a story of hope and transformation » is in fact the title of the protocol signed in Naples by the director of the Campania institute, Donatella Rotundo, and by Maurizio Marinella, sole director of the prestigious tailoring company. The agreement regulates the creation of a laboratory in which to train and employ prisoners in the making of ties for the uniforms of the Penitentiary Police.

The general manager of the maison, Alessandro Marinella, did not hesitate to declare himself proud to be part of this original initiative that unites the world of fashion and craftsmanship with the context of a prison, a project that represents a message of hope and transformation , proving that even in the most difficult circumstances, beauty and rehabilitation can flourish.

Chiara Genisio
NP December 2023