host an exhibit
Give them a wall when they've been given a cell
Every person in this collection was locked away so they would be forgotten. When their faces hang in a gallery in Prague, a library in Toronto or a café in Tbilisi, that plan fails. You can make it fail in your city too.
Portraits of Hope in Prague, CZ
15+
exhibitions hosted so far
37
portraits ready to print
$0
to borrow the collection
why it matters
Isolation is the punishment. Attention is the antidote.
Political prisoners in Russia are held far from home, cut off from family and told that the world has moved on. Lawyers and relatives say the same thing again and again: public attention changes how prisoners are treated. Guards notice when letters arrive by the hundred. Officials notice when a name appears in foreign newspapers.
An exhibition is one of the most direct ways to give that attention. Visitors stop, read a story, write a postcard, give what they can. Funds raised at exhibitions have paid for medicine, dental care and parcels that prisons refuse to provide.
what you get / 01
Print-ready portraits
High-resolution files for every portrait, sized for A3 to A1 and tested on everything from gallery giclée to a library's office printer.
what you get / 02
Stories & captions
A wall label for each person: who they are, why they were jailed, and what they are facing now. In English, with Russian and other translations on request.
what you get / 03
An event toolkit
Poster and social templates, a press release, a short talk outline and a donation QR code that sends every gift straight to prisoner support.
how it works
From first email to opening night in four steps. We're with you the whole way.
Tell us about your space
Fill in the short application: where, when, roughly how much wall you have, and who you expect to come.
Pick your portraits
We help you choose a selection that fits the room, whether that's six portraits in a café or the full collection in a gallery.
Print & hang
You print locally from our files, or we ship a travelling set where one is available. We share a layout guide and labels.
Open the doors
Host an opening, a letter-writing evening or a panel. We can connect you with artists, former prisoners and human rights speakers.
who hosts
You don't need to be a gallery. Our exhibitions have been organised by students, librarians, parish volunteers, café owners and diaspora groups. If people gather there, the portraits can hang there.
- University halls & student unions
- Galleries & artist-run spaces
- Libraries & community centres
- Cafés, bookshops & bars
- Places of worship
- Festivals, conferences & city halls
People came for an hour and stayed until we closed. Two students wrote letters to every person on the wall.
Bring them to your city
Tell us where and when. We'll reply within a week with next steps and a starter selection of portraits.