Art by offenders
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At London’s Royal Festival Hall, prisoners currently serving time and immigration detainees have not only produced the art work for a new exhibition, but they have also curated it themselves.
It is all the idea of the Koestler Trust, which was created nearly 50 years ago to help prisoners after the personal experiences of its founder, Arthur Koestler.
Mr Koestler survived the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s after he was included in a prisoner-exchange.
Prizes
Now the Koestler Trust awards prizes to prisoners from around the world for the best artwork. For prisoners doing long sentences, aiming for an award can be something positive to focus on, while for other inmates it is seen as part of their rehabilitation. For the first time the project has been extended beyond artists to include curators as well.
This summer six women nearing the end of their sentences at Downview prison in Surrey in South-East England were chosen to curate the exhibition of mixed media, including a fantastic caricatured triptych of a prison officer in different moods and a tableau of galloping white horses splashing through a river.
Artist’s emotions
Major art centres like the National Gallery and the South Bank, both in London, have helped train the curators. Jodie is one of them. “It’s something new, that I never thought I could see myself doing. I actually look what’s gone into the artwork, the artist’s emotions whilst they are doing it. I try to see the picture behind what they’ve drawn,” she says.
The art on display is the work of artists from as wide a field as psychiatric wards and immigration detention centres. The Art By Offenders exhibition runs until December 6th.
Listen to a report by Network Europe's London correspondent Allis Moss:
