Combating suicide and self-harm in Prisons
Curated by S.Downham-Lotto
In-cell work by Safer Custody Prisoners
Prisoners spend much of their time locked up in single cells, alone with their thoughts and lots of time. Over the course of the Great Prison Art Exchange project, each participant was encouraged to develop their own unique and expressive language through creative exploration and experimentation with art materials and techniques.
Six male prisoners in single cells, created all of the work in this exhibition. They were part of a larger group that, pre-Covid, met fortnightly for 3 hour art workshops with local abstract artist, S.Downham-Lotto. Laden down with art materials, paper, primed boards and paint brushes, everyone would leave for their cells, encouraged to explore and discover their own creative process between sessions. Each new group session would begin with a ‘show and tell’ of these discoveries – a highlight – with mugs of tea and biscuits.
The work chosen for this exhibition, highlights the prisoners’ enthusiasm for self-expression through words and paint, together with the expressive value of the stuff of paint itself and the act of painting. In many of the pieces, such as Blot 1 and Orange Sea, ‘magic potion’ inventions were used to create interesting effects. Floor polish, ground crayon pigment, bread, PVA glue, coffee whitener, soap – the resourcefulness was endless.
‘While I was in the Arts Lab art group, all of my stresses from being in prison were alleviated, my mind was clear and stress free, I’d look forward to the next group and would create art between workshops to present in the next session.‘
‘Encouraged to explore new approaches to making art, I’ve discovered that I love painting and all of the things it can do. Each time I make a picture, I discover something new, pleasantly surprised by the end result.’ Dartmoor prisoner.
Blot 1
Big Drip
Can’t Sleep with a Storm in Your Head
Dark Moon
Orange Sea
Read Between the Lines …
Earth Circle
Indian Festival
Imagined Landscape
(In)Sane
Jigsaw Disc
Get the London Look (Knife Crime)
Brexit 1
Dartmoor prisoner sharing his pencil lead paint recipe:
‘Whilst I was in HMP Winchester, I couldn’t find any paints for the first sculpture I made. I decided to make my own by using pencil leads as a pigment. I then started to experiment with several things to mix with the pencil lead. Floor polish worked perfectly as it gave the paint a transparency and a nice gloss-like shine.
In the sessions with Sara, we used the pencil lead paint with other mediums such as ink or normal paint. The floor polish tended to separate from them causing a fluid dynamic which wouldn’t be possible with traditional paints.’
