Prisoners’ Objects: The Collection of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum

Political prisoners and prisoners of war spend long days, weeks, and months, even years, in detention. To relieve the boredom and escape their confined environment, many use available material to create works of art and beauty. Eventually people at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent realized the value of these achievements and collected the finished items. They were first displayed in 1991, but in 1998 they were placed in a museum in Geneva in a permanent exhibition. Prisoners’ Objects is a collection of photographs of these objects spanning the years 1914 to 2015 and representing prisoners’ works from a large number of countries. This is a unique collection, and the photos are professionally shot, one to three per page. Each one is labeled with the place of the prison, the material used, and its size. Materials available were leather, wood, beads, plastic, strings, cardboard, aluminum foil, fiber, metal burlap, and soap. Many works are made up of several materials. They are in fourteen chapters according to topics. Each chapter is introduced by one of four writers with an extensive text. They are informative and educational. A quote precedes each chapter. This is a beautiful, emotionally charged volume.