One of the fundamental questions raised by the exhibition Art by Offenders, Secure Patients and Detainees is the extent to which art has the power to improve or even to change lives. Jude Kelly, the energetic artistic director of the Southbank Centre believes passionately in the role the arts play in affecting lives and, on the strength of this exhibition, there is ample evidence of the participants looking closely at their lives and perhaps rethinking bits – if not all – of them. Comments from the exhibitors testify to the way art has affected them, with one saying: “I have been given hope by art – it’s my future” and another confessing: “Art gives an outlet for that softer side of me to come out”.
Organised by the Koestler Trust, the respected arts charity, this, the 49th exhibition, takes on a new identity with a name change from Prisoners’ Art to the less emotive Art by Offenders. There has also been a major change in the presentation of the work, with seven London-based curators whose lives have been deeply affected by serious offences against them or their families, including domestic violence or even murder. They were referred by charities such as Victim Support, the Prison Fellowship and Why Me that work with victims and restorative justice.
The task of the curators involved selecting the work from literally thousands of submissions and more than 50 art forms, as well as designing the look of the exhibition. Ranging from large-scale matchstick models, embroidery, drawing, painting, ceramics and furniture, the exhibition offers insights into the imaginations and abilities of artists who generally have had no training but are often encouraged by perceptive teaching and a recognition that whatever their level of ability expressing themselves visually can be rewarding and fulfilling.
Several themes are apparent. Inevitably, as in any closed community, much of the art reflects the world they know and in which they live. Historically, sailors on board long voyages carved, whittled and etched the ships in which they sailed and the sights they saw, so with offenders it is often the cell, the closed door, the barred window that features in their work, but often taking on ominous even claustrophobic significance. In one image, a brightly coloured butterfly is pictured smashing against the glass of a barred widow, frantic to escape to flutter into the open air. As both a painting and a metaphor, it tells a powerful story.
Likewise, another painting – The Big Blue Door – depicts the closed, metal door with meticulous care, the studs and strengthening ensuring no escape. The door fills the frame, the image so vivid you can almost hear it slam shut. Life inside on the landings is well caught in Long Walk Home, depicting a scene outside the prison cell as prisoners mill around, their individuality lost in the blue outfits. It is not only an image of record but also a response to the routine and predictability of life inside.
Other themes include the idea of freedom, beautifully captured in the galleon, standing nearly a metre high, complete with furled sails, that must have been a labour of love, so detailed is the making, so careful the observation and so intricate the carving. Oh to sail on the seven seas away from the confinement of HM Prison Wakefield and life inside – or even outside. Art may or may not have the ability to change lives, but on the strength of Art by Offenders it certainly has the power to affect them.
