In 2015, when George Osborne announced that HMP Holloway, the largest female prison in western Europe, was to close, the news provoked mixed emotions among those who had served their sentences there. A site-specific trauma-informed community project set out to address former inmates’ experiences, and, last year, 25 of them were invited back to the building and asked to read aloud a letter to a person who – for better or worse – had played a significant part in their journey. Through video shorts and photographic portraits, the multimedia project – developed by Power Play Productions and Aliyah Ali of Daddyless Daughters – would platform their stories.
We recced the deserted London building before the shoot. When the gates first shut behind me, I felt I had entered a labyrinth. The mould, the peeling paint, things ripped off the walls, the bare bones of the metal furniture, all created an extra layer of hostility.
