(Tatort) saratov

In November 2021, the Russian NGO gulagu.net released gruesome footage showing rape scenes in a Russian prison with pixellated faces. Male prisoners are seen masturbating, kissing and being anally assaulted with a broomstick by their guards or other inmates. Russia’s FSB and Federal Prison Service systematically have male prisoners sexually abused in order to later use the footage to blackmail them into obedience and submission. Former prisoner Sergei Savelyev smuggled the pictures out of the Saratov prison hospital to prove the cruel practices. The Kremlin and the FSB quickly responded to these images by releasing the original – unpixilised – videos, using obfuscation, propaganda and framing techniques such as spin doctoring.

‘Saratov‘ thus addresses a taboo: the treatment of male rape and its social and political reception, interpretation and exploitation in contemporary Russia, where a traditional and conservative image of masculinity prevails. The leaked images from Russia’s Saratov Prison and Epidemic Hospital are forensically examined, and victims and NGO editors have been interviewed. The reactions of Russian domestic politics and intelligence agencies to the cases are also examined.

Press

„Abgründig und doppelbödig: die Ausstellung Chapters of Violence“ on Kultur Mitte Magazin

„Patrick Alan Banfield, Tatort. Chapters of Violence Opening. Photographer: Stefan Hobmaier“ on galerie weisser elefant