I only know a few things about @Man_in_jail_back. I know he's in prison. I know that prison is in France. And I know his pictures make me think of a Jean Genet novel, if Jean Genet had focused on the boredom of prison rather than the glamour of queer criminality. What I don't know is what he did to get locked up, what his real name might be, or when he's getting out. In our correspondence, he's kind and grateful for any likes I give him.
Most of these pictures are gritty, black and white shots. It seems like there are hundreds of them, some of them very, very good. You never see the sky. But you can feel the monotony of prison life. Men shave. Men smoke. Men pose for photographs. There are empty cell blocks and lots of bars.
Me and "man," met on Instagram after he liked some of my pictures. It's fascinating that cell phones have allowed prisoners all over the world to document their own lives deprived of liberty. This is important work and I'm surprised nobody's done a documentary on @man_in_jail_back.
Art has always existed in prison. Prison photography has always been a complicated affair but cell phone cameras have made it possible. I'm glad that prisoners remain hopeful enough about the world that they can find reason to photograph it for the rest of us.
