Exhibitions, Italy, Firenze, 09 September 2013
PETER PÜNTENER
IF WALLS COULD TALK: PHOTOS FROM THE ABU SALIM PRISON, TRIPOLI
SEPTEMBER 9 - OCTOBER 14, 2013
OPENING: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 AT 6PM
Before the Arab Spring uprising swept through Libya, thousands of political prisoners had for many years been held in Moammar Gaddafi's prisons. Here, the halls and cells of the notorious maximum security Abu Salim prison in Tripoli are open for all to see. As the site of the terrible 1966 massacre of some 1,200 prisoners who had protested over living conditions, the symbolism of the liberation of Abu Salim prison during the uprising was particularly powerful. Indeed, it was the arrest of Fathi Terbil, a lawyer representing the families of Abu Salim’s victims that had helped spark the revolt in Libya in February 2011. Ten days after the uprising began, thousands of people arrested after demonstrations in Tripoli were packed into Abu Salim. With the wing reserved for political prisoners full, new arrivals were housed in the military wing. Arrested on suspicion of being rebels, they were made to sign a statement blindfolded – if they refused, they were tortured: tied up, hung from an overhead metal bar and beaten.
The photgraphs were all taken shortly after rebels had liberated the Abu Salim prison in early September 2011.
Peter Püntener was born in Switzerland in 1958 and lives in Zurich. After finishing his studies in Economic History at the University of Zurich in the early 1990s, Peter Püntener attended classes at the International Center of Photography in New York City. He then returned to Switzerland, where he began a career as photojournalist. In 1995 his traveling exhibition and book, Ohne Arbeit, photographic portraits of unemployed people in Switzerland, brought him recognition as a leading Swiss photographer. In 2008 he photographed famous Swiss living in the USA. These works are now in the Photograph Collection of the Swiss National Library. For several years, he has been working on portraits of two Swiss artists, Bruno Jakob and Hans Witschi, both of whom live in New York City. Other long-term projects include The End of the Road, photographs of abandoned cars amid American landscapes, and Under the Trees of Heaven, photographs of flowers and plants in an isolated Umbrian valley. Currently, he is working on a project about the financial crisis in Europe. If walls could talk is Peter Püntener’s second work dealing with human right issues after Totenklage. This work was shown at SACI in early 2011. The photographs from Totenklage, for which Peter Püntener was nominated for the Swiss Photo Award 2009, were reproduced in AFTERWARDS, a book by the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne published by Thames & Hudson, London.
www.peterpuentener.ch
SACI Gallery
Palazzo dei Cartelloni
Via Sant'Antonino, 11
50123 Firenze, Italy
T 055 289 948
Open Monday - Friday, 9am - 7pm
Saturday & Sunday 1pm-7pm
Admission is free
IF WALLS COULD TALK: PHOTOS FROM THE ABU SALIM PRISON, TRIPOLI
SEPTEMBER 9 - OCTOBER 14, 2013
OPENING: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 AT 6PM
Before the Arab Spring uprising swept through Libya, thousands of political prisoners had for many years been held in Moammar Gaddafi's prisons. Here, the halls and cells of the notorious maximum security Abu Salim prison in Tripoli are open for all to see. As the site of the terrible 1966 massacre of some 1,200 prisoners who had protested over living conditions, the symbolism of the liberation of Abu Salim prison during the uprising was particularly powerful. Indeed, it was the arrest of Fathi Terbil, a lawyer representing the families of Abu Salim’s victims that had helped spark the revolt in Libya in February 2011. Ten days after the uprising began, thousands of people arrested after demonstrations in Tripoli were packed into Abu Salim. With the wing reserved for political prisoners full, new arrivals were housed in the military wing. Arrested on suspicion of being rebels, they were made to sign a statement blindfolded – if they refused, they were tortured: tied up, hung from an overhead metal bar and beaten.
The photgraphs were all taken shortly after rebels had liberated the Abu Salim prison in early September 2011.
Peter Püntener was born in Switzerland in 1958 and lives in Zurich. After finishing his studies in Economic History at the University of Zurich in the early 1990s, Peter Püntener attended classes at the International Center of Photography in New York City. He then returned to Switzerland, where he began a career as photojournalist. In 1995 his traveling exhibition and book, Ohne Arbeit, photographic portraits of unemployed people in Switzerland, brought him recognition as a leading Swiss photographer. In 2008 he photographed famous Swiss living in the USA. These works are now in the Photograph Collection of the Swiss National Library. For several years, he has been working on portraits of two Swiss artists, Bruno Jakob and Hans Witschi, both of whom live in New York City. Other long-term projects include The End of the Road, photographs of abandoned cars amid American landscapes, and Under the Trees of Heaven, photographs of flowers and plants in an isolated Umbrian valley. Currently, he is working on a project about the financial crisis in Europe. If walls could talk is Peter Püntener’s second work dealing with human right issues after Totenklage. This work was shown at SACI in early 2011. The photographs from Totenklage, for which Peter Püntener was nominated for the Swiss Photo Award 2009, were reproduced in AFTERWARDS, a book by the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne published by Thames & Hudson, London.
www.peterpuentener.ch
SACI Gallery
Palazzo dei Cartelloni
Via Sant'Antonino, 11
50123 Firenze, Italy
T 055 289 948
Open Monday - Friday, 9am - 7pm
Saturday & Sunday 1pm-7pm
Admission is free
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