A Prison With Blue Walls
Giulia Iacolutti investigates the stories of five transgender women at a male penitentiary in Mexico City.
Transgender inmates, who are forced to wear a blue uniform to conform to the male gender of the other convicts, have nicknamed the prison Casa Azul, “Blue House”. After meeting them during a writing and photography workshop in the penitentiary, Italian photographer Giulia Iacolutti starts listening to their stories. Feminine objects have to be smuggled into the penal institution because they are forbidden, hormonal treatments need to be suspended or abandoned, but relationships can sometimes flourish within the prison’s walls.
In Giulia Iacolutti’s recent book Casa Azul, Prussian blue photos printed as cyanotypes evoke the masculinity imposed on her collaborators as they strive for the fulfillment of their womanly identity, in their own eyes and in front of others.
Casa Azul by Giulia Iacolutti is published by (M) édition, available for 55€, in an edition of 500 copies. To order the book visit the
publisher's website
