Documentation of a unique partnership between the US American artist and an Italian cooperative
that supports present and former inmates of two Italian prisons. In 2016 the artist Mark
Bradford began a partnership with the cooperative Rio Terà dei Pensieri an organization that
creates work opportunities with and for people incarcerated and recently incarcerated in two
prisons in Venice Italy. This book offers extensive documentation of both Rio Terà's
multifaceted activities and the collaboration with Bradford. Edited by Nicole R. Fleetwood it
features a conversation between the artist and former President of Rio Terà Liri Longo that
delves into the history of their working together and the importance of socially engaged
artmaking. Various essays critically assess the state of Italian prisons provide a comparison
of Italian and American carceral systems reflect on the power of creativity inside prisons
and consider this partnership as part of larger discourse of social practice.
