Francesca Todde

France, Marseille, 9 september 2014.

The inside of the prison, men’s department, on the first floor. Les Baumettes prison was built between 1933 and 1939. According to the administration plan, this ancient site will be destroyed and the prisoners t

France, Marseille, 30 september 2014.

First contacts with the horse Silence. Most prisoners never ride a horse, at first they are intimidated by the animal. Accompanied by Manolo of the Théâtre du Centaure, one of the prisoners meets Silence, they

France, Marseille, 1 october 2014.

One of the prisoners embraces Silence for several minutes.
The rigidity of social relationships in prison does not leave room for emotion, so in contact with the horse he finds all the freedom of a relationship wi

France, Marseille, 30 september 2014.

The inmate is lying on the horse to learn to completely let his fears and trust the animal.

Francesca Todde / NOOR

France, Marseille, 1 october 2014.

During the workshop, Manolo asks the detainee to leave the reins and close the eyes, in order to feel the horse only through body’s contact.

Francesca Todde / NOOR

France, Marseille, 1 october 2014.

Galloping, eyes closed, in the Cour du Desert. The participants were asked to look at the sky one last time and then close their eyes and let themselves be carried away at a trot and gallop.
When the eyes reopened

France, Marseille, 25 March 2015.

Exterior view of the Baumettes prison in Marseille (FR), since the windows of the guest house for prison staff. The population incarcerated at Baumettes is, at the time of our visit, 1800 people.

Francesca Todde /

France, Marseille, 25 march 2015.

Camille of the Théâtre du Centaure on the fresian Silence goes around the outside of the fences.

Francesca Todde / NOOR

ANIMAL EXCHANGE

October, beginning of afternoon in the penitentiary of Les Baumettes, a horse makes its entry on the beaten ground of the courtyard of the Desert. Through the screened windows that overhang it, from the cells of one or two places, someone sees it first, and shouts. The summoned prisoners, selected from the next released, slowly take their places, intimidated by the presence of the animal and the look of the comrades who observe them from their windows. At the end of the workshop, they galloped their eyes closed, letting go the reins to mimic the bird in full flight, they will have stretched themselves on the horse and they will have entwined the great beast, immobile for long minutes, carried away in this animal exchange, without words or judgment. A form - in their own words - of emotional reinsertion.

Images taken during the workshops conducted in two times in 2014 and 2015 by the Théâtre du Centaure in the prison of Les Baumettes, Marseille, France. With the support of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur Region and the Marseille-Les Baumettes Penitentiary Center. In partnership with the State - Ministry of Justice, the Interregional Directorate of Penal Services PACA Corse, the Penitentiary Service of Institution and Probation of the Bouches-du-Rhone. With the support of The Impossible Project.

Francesca Todde

Francesca is a documentary photographer based in Milano, Italy. Most of her long-term projects are focused on the relation between humans and animals.

Her works were published on RVD Photos, GRANTA Magazine, La Vie, L’Humanité Dimanche, EYESOPEN! Magazine, PRIVATE, YET Magazine, C-41. Among exhibitions: MEP Maison Européenne de la Photographie/Paris 2017; Impossible Project Space/Paris 2017; CAMERA - Centro italiano per la Fotografia/Torino 2016. She’s also a graphic designer and with the artist Luca Reffo she founded the editions Departpourlimage.