PRISON - TOO MUCH TIME 1989-1999
“Shocked by what she saw – hellish conditions, physical and mental abuse, dehumanising treatment, including women giving birth while handcuffed – Atwood’s project became a clarion cry for change. Though she took her photographs carefully, over time, they come at you at an enraged velocity – they shake you. Most of the incarcerated women she met were mothers separated from their children, imprisoned for non-violent crimes, or there because of the men who abused them.” - Charlotte Jansen for The Guardian (March, 2026)
One of the first female photographers to gain access inside prisons, Atwood committed a decade to document 40 prisons in 9 countries (United States, France, Russia, Eastern Europe, and India) in the 1990s. This projects sheds light on the conditions of incarcerated women and amplifies their stories. Her book Too Much Time / Trop de Peine (2000) was expanded and reissued in 2025 to a bilingual edition by Le Bec en l’air, earning her a place on the shortlist for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. A traveling exhibition of this work was shown over twenty venues across nine countries. and the series has also been adapted into a theater piece.
