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'The arts enables prisoners to be seen in a different light'

The recent symposium, Prisoner Arts In Context: Global Perspectives, brought together academics, practitioners, artists, activists, government and prison service officials from across the globe to explore the use of the arts by those with lived experience of the prison complex.

The event followed a research project led by Anastasia Chamberlen and colleagues, which explores who prisoner artists are, how imprisonment shapes identity and artistic output, and the prospect of using art to communicate the subjective emotions and experiences of serving and former prisoners in England. The day was shaped around artist exhibitions, performances, and four lively discussion panels: (1) Doing Rehabilitation: Stakeholders and Facilitators of Prisoner Arts; (2) The Artist Identity; Stories In and Beyond Prison; (3) The Reception of Prisoner Arts: Communication, Representations and Audiences; and (4) Creative Co-Production and International Collaborators.

Steeldoors Studio

As I entered the hall on that crisp, cold morning, I was struck by the sheer expressiveness of the artwork around me – from canvas self-portraits to cartoon postcards of daily prison life to landscapes depicting life beyond bars. And it didn’t end there. There was music from G6ix, spoken word from Jason Smith, a monologue performance from Anita-Joy Uwajeh of work created by Clean Break Theatre Company, a short fiction reading by David Shipley, and an illustrated campaign video by Reclaim Holloway, calling for a Women’s Building to be built on the former site of HMP Holloway, which was closed in 2019. Echoing many of the themes covered that day, the proposed Holloway Women’s Building would help to support vulnerable women in staying outside of the criminal justice system, while providing a legacy for the tens of thousands of women who served time at the prison throughout its history, including those who were criminalised for fighting for women’s rights under oppressive systems.

Numerous stories emerged that touched on people’s struggles within a dehumanising prison system and a society that marginalises former prisoners, including in the arts sector. For many prison artists, their creativity evolved as a response to harsh conditions, helping them to stay grounded, process, reimagine and resist the dehumanising experience. Rather than supporting prisoners in reshaping their lives, the prison experience inflicted trauma, and individuals had to fight hard to keep on the path that they truly wanted their lives to follow.

A heartfelt challenge was raised about the availability of the arts in prisons. Cuts to funding, especially for external arts programmes, mean that access to materials and art therapy are hugely under-resourced. This is compounded by a societal devaluation of the arts, as well as a lack of understanding among prison staff and authorities about prisoners’ experiences and the potential impact of creative expression. In this context, several participants raised concerns that arts programmes are often exclusively found in more secure Category A and B prisons, and scarce in Category C and D prisons. Further, the diversity and availability of creative programmes appears to depend on individual regimes and governor discretion. This means that prisoners can suddenly lose opportunities as they move between prisons and as regimes shift. This deprivation, some participants said, makes self-destructive behaviours and criminal activity seem like the only viable outlet in the absence of stable creative expression and therapy. Ultimately, participants shared that without the arts it becomes harder to resist the oppressions of the system.

In spite of all of this, the arts persist in prison, and in some cases have thrived in recent years. Even in the absence of formal programmes, much art is made in prison cells, albeit often unrecorded, undervalued and unaccounted for.

When it is seen, though, it can have transformational effects in the way that prison staff view prisoners. As Ralph Lubowski, Director of HMP Peterborough, discussed, a prisoner’s art can affect the way prison staff interact with prisoners, helping to make prisons more cohesive and constructive places for all.

Holloway Prison Board Game

After an individual leaves prison, their experience of imprisonment can manifest in their art. Themes of isolation and connectedness, uncertainty and hope, waiting, and even humour are central tropes in much prisoner art. These themes unfold in these creative expressions from artists being exposed to lives of oppression, marginalisation, stigma and criminalisation, and of course incarceration. As one participant said, “I try not to write about prison, but it will always be there, in the way I shape my characters”.

Just when people were starting to feel peckish, food was served by Liberty Kitchen, an award-winning social enterprise that cooks up an amazing range of “street ball” recipes, bite-sized food in a range of meat, fish and vegan sweet and savoury options. Beginning in HMP Pentonville in 2017, Liberty Kitchen provides training, qualifications and jobs, and celebrates recipes made and sold by male prisoners and ex-prisoners. I had the opportunity to assist them behind the scenes in preparing a few dishes and setting up stall. There was a lot of laughter and joy as we shared stories, and they showed me how to put the finishing touches on dishes. Salmon, potato and dill served on toasted bread and tartar sauce. Delicate profiteroles with a chocolate glaze and small decorations. The food was gone within the hour! If you’re searching for catering that’s unique and socially driven, I would definitely recommend Liberty Kitchen – found at various London markets and available to hire for events.

Liberty Kitchen

Back at the main event, it was called into question how the media has influenced the ways in which prisoners are portrayed in wider society, which provoked an important debate around the place of the arts in shifting public misconceptions about punishment and prisons. Saul Hewish , a theatre practitioner and Teaching Fellow at Warwick University, recalled being emailed by reporters from a leading British newspaper fishing for details of his workshop in a prison. He soon caught on that they wanted to excavate details to twist a scandalous, provocative story that would reinforce the narrative of prisoners as one-dimensional, undeserving, even evil characters without humanity. Indeed, these stories are not hard to come by, and seep into political contests about who is the most “tough on crime” in a time of hyper-incarceration.

This called attention to the harmful discourse that surrounds prisoners. In public life, rhetoric serves to demonise prisoners, making it harder for individuals to make the necessary changes to escape a life of crime. With this stigma attached, it’s harder to get a job, harder to access loans, harder to secure relationships. Prison culture also impacts those close to the imprisoned individual.

Wall Hangings in the Agora

Visual artist Erika Flowers discussed how people outside the criminal justice system can become prison-impacted when friends or family members are imprisoned and removed from their support networks. This impact is particularly large in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where imprisonment is frequently used as a political weapon or war tactic, as eloquently discussed by Susan Aboeid and Sumaya Tabbah, who exhibited and spoke about prisoner artworks from the MENA region. In these contexts, art made as a means of processing trauma, bereavement, and identity inevitably takes on a political character.

Steeldoors Studio

Throughout the symposium, narratives of hope, potential and change surfaced. Nevertheless, the reality of experiencing an underfunded prison system that is not centred on the needs of prisoners and their rehabilitation was apparent. The artist behind Steel Door Studios, who was given licence to join the symposium from prison, made a significant contribution to the event despite facing difficulties with the journey because the prison had not, in the end, given him his train tickets. This small anecdote speaks to the many tolls and pains of constructing and retaining an artist identity, and of persevering with the arts’ rehabilitative promise, in a system that is consistently in crisis.

The arts enable prisoners to be seen in a different light, communicating their experiences to prison staff, the public, and to themselves. Through recognising the cultural and personal value of prisoners’ artistic production, creative opportunities may become more accessible to prisoners and the way opened for much-needed expansion of the prison arts sector.

Hannah is a postgraduate student studying Global Sustainable Development at University of Warwick, with interests in climate justice and using the arts to humanise lived experiences. Previous work includes co-producing an exhibition with people with lived experience of eating disorders to challenge associated stigma. Outside of academia, she is a participant with Rank and File Theatre, where refugees, people with (dis)abilities and/or mental health difficulties devise and perform productions about commonality, (dis)connection and the desperation for change.

Hannah can be reached at hannah-micuta@outlook.com and via social media @myenviromind.