Curated by Javier Restán, Fabrizio Pellicelli, Julián de la Morena, Jacopo Sabatiello. In collaboration with AVSI Foundation.

 

“Here enters the man, the crime stays outside”, that’s the sentence written at the entrance of APAC (Association for Protection and Assistance of Convicts) prisons in Brazil. There the inmates or recuperandos hold the keys of their jail.
APAC is an impressive example of how the world can change. This experience originated from a very small group of people that, fascinated by Christ, started to develop a friendship that deals with reality and that led them to generate a social and political change. APAC were not born to be the alternative to the conventional prison system , but they are a model and at the same time the evidence that it is possible to “recover the man, removing the criminal.” In the context of the Year of Mercy wanted by Pope Francis, this experience is a prime example of the new gaze that Christ introduced in history, an unconditional love that doesn’t see the value of a man solely in his actions, but relies on the power of love and forgiveness, and on the capability of the man’s heart to recognize the good, truth and beauty when they are shown to him. The exhibition is made of texts, pictures and videos that challenge the criterion we, full of prejudices and objections, normally use to look at those who have made mistakes. We don’t want visitors to cancel a priori the thoughts they have when they arrive at the exhibition, but we ask them to try to subordinate reason to the experience they will meet.