Curated by the family members of people in prison
19 September – 4 November 2018
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
What’s it like having a loved one in prison?
Our I’m Still Here exhibition was our 11th annual UK exhibition produced in partnership with Southbank Centre, and featured artwork entered into the 2018 Koestler Awards for arts in criminal justice. Curated by families supporting someone inside, each family selected artworks that illustrated their experiences, giving a unique and very personal edge to the show, which explored what it is like to have a loved one in prison. Their exhibition featured a diverse range of art, writing and music created by prisoners, secure patients and detainees, as well as people on community sentences, across the UK.
As part of the curation process, the families were asked to choose an object which best represented their experience of having a loved one in prison. Their responses were overwhelmingly positive and focussed on the idea of communication, rather than a lack of. For example, one of the objects chosen was a telephone, and the importance of this as a life-line between a mother and her son. Another object chosen was a hand-written speech written by a son in prison and sent to his nephew to read out at his mother’s wedding, which he was unable to attend due to being inside. The idea of art as a tool for communicating and rebuilding relationships is prevalent in this exhibition, echoing the very concept behind Koestler Arts’ work.
Online Gallery
View a selection of artworks from the exhibition in the gallery below.

Zip of My Words
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Hatfield
Transformation Commended Award for Textile Art

Wall Hanging – ‘Linked’
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre
Highly Commended Award for Mural and Wall Hanging

Storm in the Glass of Water
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany)
Frederick Davies Platinum Award for Painting

Life
The Spinney (secure mental health unit)
Elysium Healthcare Highly Commended Award for Themed Category: Connections

Lucy
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood
Lord Ramsbotham Under 25s Special Award for Portrait

Life is Like a Cup of Rosie Lee
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company
Vanessa Jackson RA Bronze Award for Drawing

Laurel and Hardy
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc
Pat & Bill Gordon Silver Award for Ceramics

How I Felt
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Low Newton (women’s establishment)
Lamberth Family Highly Commended Award for Needlecraft

Hangman’s Field
Dorset Probation Service
Sotheby’s Platinum Award for Mixed Media
Unilink Platinum Visitors’ Choice Award

Disconnected
HM Prison Dovegate
Jeremy Hutchinson QC Platinum Award for Themed Category: Connections
Unilink Silver Visitors’ Choice Award

Connections
HM Prison Grendon
Tim Robertson Silver Award for Themed Category: Connections
Unilink Bronze Visitors’ Choice Award

Connection Between Refugee Kids and Women Prisoners
HM Prison Eastwood Park (women’s establishment)
Commended Award for Needlecraft

Back Inside
Exeter Probation Service
Pierce Brunt Highly Commended Award for Watercolour and Gouache

Back Together
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Low Newton (women’s establishment)
Anne Peaker Highly Commended Award for Pastel