There’s only one name said the guard forcefully. What do you mean only one name I replied. ‘Il tuo documento dice due nome’ (two names) here there is only one. She brandished my passport and compared it with her list of bookings. Sure enough on the passport it said Janet Mary Simmonds, whilst on the official sheet of bookings it said Janet Simmonds. No matter that my photo id (passport) clearly showed that I was me. Irrelevant in the bureaucratic world of the Italian prison system. Then without further ado the prison door slammed shut and that was that for me. I was not going into the Women’s Prison. No middle name, no entry. You can’t come in…
I turned and looked at the canal in front of me, the sun shone down, I sighed. It didn’t really matter. There were two women on the bridge, they’d suffered the same fate as me. We commiserated.
Fortunately for me I’d visited the prison two months earlier and I was able to describe the experience, in detail, to the women on the bridge. Sounds like the title of a 1930s novel ‘Three Women on a Bridge’ …..
Here’s what I told them……
At the beginning of 2024 the Vatican decided to host their art contribution for the Venice Biennale at the Women’s Prison on Giudecca – my initial reaction to this was sceptical. Haven’t the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church in general, done enough to interfere in women’s lives? However I decided to embrace the idea and went to see the ‘exhibit’ with my own eyes ‘con i miei occhi’ in May, 2024.
The visit consists of about 8 different artists exhibiting various pieces of art throughout the prison; neon signs, posters, photographs, a film and fabric sculptures make up the works on display. The visit is a journey through the corridors, garden, courtyard and interiors of the prison. This in itself is fascinating, outsiders discovering what it’s like inside a prison and how daily life is for the prisoners.
The prison visit is led and guided by two of the women prisoners. The day I visited the guides were impressive. They were articulate, composed and clearly enjoying the opportunity to interact with the visitors (I was in a group of about 16 outsiders).
In fact the concept of us visitors as outsiders fits neatly into the concept of this year’s Biennale. The theme is ‘Stranieri Ovunque’ which translates as ‘Foreigners Everywhere’. When the Pope visited Venice in April his first stop was the Women’s Prison. An event that was appreciated by the prisoners whose freedom has been taken from them and who feel excluded from every day life. Both the Pope’s visit and the art event at the prison have given the women (detainees) the opportunity to be seen and heard, in a limited fashion, through the exhibition.
To be clear however there are many constraints. The guides have a script that they read from, the visit is conducted in Italian only, and the script is about the art. Personal questions directed at the prisoners are not permitted. Also the visiting process is convoluted. You apply on line for an entry ticket (which is free of charge) however the contact details you enter on line must match, precisely, the details on your passport. On my second visit my details did not – I’d omitted my middle name – so I was not allowed in!
Whilst the art exhibition allows outsiders to enter the prison and experience the inside of a penitentiary the framework of the visit is clearly defined and not negotiable. Visitors register on arrival and put all their personal items in a locker. No personal items allowed, no phones, no photography, no water, no writing materials, nothing permitted.
In fact as I think back on my first visit two words pop into my head ‘not permitted’.
On reflection, would I regard the Vatican and Prison collaboration at this year’s Biennale a success? The answer to this is an unequivocal yes. The highlight for me was a screening of the short film that is shown during the prison visit. It had its own premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September. I think it was the first public screening of the film outside the prison. The film was directed by Marco Perego and shows a prisoner on her release day. Filmed in black and white it is atmospheric and profoundly emotional. There was one professional actor, the rest of the cast were the prisoners.
I was fortunate to be at the screening and here’s what I wrote…..
In early September there was a screening of ‘Con i miei occhi’ at the Venice Film Festival. A short film, in Venice, at the Film Festival. I was honoured to be invited and fortunate to attend. There was a lot of self-congratulatory chit-chat amongst the organisers; Biennale director, Vatican art and culture head, Governor of Veneto Prisons (all male). They discussed at length their collective virtues and their extraordinary perspective on the subjects of art and womens prisons.
Then suddenly, towards the end of a tiresome male-dominated discussion, a special guest appeared on the stage. It was Chiara Parisi, the event’s curator who was introduced and thanked. Chiara was grateful. A woman in the audience, sat next to me, leant over and said ‘Eccola, Ecco la nostra Chiara’ with a sense of profound pride’. There were cries of ‘Brava Chiara’ from the spectators.
Then, and this is the best bit, three of the female prisoners from the prison (who’d arrived on the public boat earlier) were introduced to the audience and thanked for their involvement in the project. The prisoners acted as tour guides to the outsiders coming into the prison to view the art works (and of course) to see life inside the prison. The three women stood on the stage, they received a huge round of applause and one of them spoke. She said (and I paraphrase here)…..
…..’’We’d like to thank everyone here today for giving us this opportunity (to participate in this art event). It made us realise that we are all tour guides and we are all actors, and we’ve all got something to say…..’’
I went over to congratulate the women on their willingness to participate in this project. One of them, Alessandra, came over to me smiling and gave me a big hug. She said to me that the whole project had made them feel ‘seen’.
There were tears in her eyes and in mine.
After all don’t we all want to be seen, to be considered, to be heard. Nobody wants to be ignored, forgotten, abandoned…..
I’d like to thank the two women on the bridge for showing an interest in my previous prison visit and for being prepared to listen. They helped me to organise my thoughts and work out what was important and what mattered.
This article was written in the spirit of the famous ‘Frank’s got a cold’ article, referring to a journalist flying from the East Coast to the West Coast to interview the famous singer, only to be told that Mr Sinatra is not available. His solution was an article called ‘Frank’s got a cold’. I’ve tried to emulate that, to the best of my ability.
I’ve written a couple of articles on the Women’s Prison in Venice – I hope you find them interesting:
Venice Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere
My friend Cat Bauer has also written eloquently about her experience when visiting the prison: With my eyes – Cat Bauer
A SUMMARY – The Women’s Prison in Venice is the unlikely location for the Vatican’s contribution to this year’s Biennale in Venice. The Vatican selected the ‘Casa di Detenzione Femminile’ as the venue for an art exhibition entitled ‘con i miei occhi’ meaning ‘with my eyes’….. The prisoners are the guides at the venue. This decision by the Vatican transformed the summer months for the prison inmates, as, day after day they acted as guides explaining the art to groups of visitors.
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR – Janet Simmonds (nee Panagakis) is a British-born tour guide, writer and travel company owner. Born in Liverpool with a slightly Greek grand-father and a very Greek great grand-father she has a special affinity with the history, culture and art of the Mediterranean, especially Italy and Greece. She studied Geography and Art History at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester, Janet has spent most of her adult life running specialist travel companies and travelling extensively. Several times a year she leads small groups to different parts of Europe. Mostly to Venice, Trieste, Friuli, Naples, Basilicata, Amalfi and Sicily. Occasional trips to Greece, especially Athens, Delphi and Thessalonika are usually on the horizon. Next year it’s Istanbul and the Lycian tombs of Antalya, Turkey.
October 2024
Greyhound Trails Travel