Erik RuinAmerican
Letter from Isolation
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minneapolis, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Erik Ruin’s artist’s book, Letter from Isolation, was inspired by the German leftist revolutionary and journalist Ulrike Meinhof's “Letter from a prisoner in the Isolation Wing, June 16, 1972 to February 9, 1973.” The accordion-fold book presents a series of boldly graphic paper-cut figures and hand-written text of Meinhof’s letter-poem, all realized with color screenprinting. The book eulogizes Meinhof, who co-founded the radical, anti-imperialist Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1970, while conveying her vivid personal encounter with psychological torture. Branded a terrorist by the German state, she was convicted of helping a fellow RAF member escape custody and sentenced to a prison term of eight years, while also facing additional charges for her role in bombings, kidnappings, and arson.
Read on
Meinhof was incarcerated at the maximum security Köln-Ossendorf prison and kept in isolation in the prison’s “dead wing, ” where no sounds could be heard or other people seen. Her bare, concrete cell was illuminated 24 hours per day with a single neon bulb. The intent was to segregate Meinhof from her revolutionary cohorts and induce a mental breakdown through sensory deprivation. On May 9, 1976, in the midst of her years-long terrorism trial, Meinhof was found hanged in the cell, an apparent suicide, though some suspect murder at the hands of West German authorities. Her letter from prison, widely distributed after her death, became a rallying cry for ending the physical and mental trauma of solitary confinement.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2020.26
In the catalog
Sources
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — © Erik Ruin
