GAP Project – Graffiti Art in Prison
Graffiti, Drawings and Wall Writings from the Inquisition Secret Prisons in Palermo

The first week will focus on the graffiti of the secret prisons of the Holy Office in Sicily, situated in the Chiaramonte-Steri palace in Palermo from the early 17th to the end of the 18th century. The history of the Inquisition from a broad chronological, geographical, thematic perspective (court, location, procedures, crimes, penalties, prosecution, imaginary) constitutes the context to conceptualizing graffiti as ‘action writings’ and artistic expressions produced in a specific space of confinement and at a precise historical moment. The richness of the iconographic and writing heritage of the Palermo inquisitorial prisons raises a set of theoretical and methodological questions about the circumstances of their realization, their formal characteristics, the identity of their authors, their patrimonial and memorial value so as to make them an exemplary case-study. The exhibition Inquisitio Contra Haereticos. I Processi dell’Inquisizione a Streghe, Eretici e Società Segrete (Palermo, October 2021) will offer participants the chance to see original historical books and important documents from the XVII century.