Curated by Joelle Taylor
2 November – 17 December 2023
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY was our 16th annual UK exhibition at the Southbank Centre, featuring nearly 200 artworks across visual, writing and music categories entered into the 2023 Koestler Awards for art in the criminal justice system, by individuals in prisons, secure mental health facilities, immigration removal centres, young offender institutions and on community sentences across the UK. Having worked in prisons for over twenty years, Joelle Taylor’s motivation for this exhibition was to showcase the talent and imagination that springs from secure settings. Choosing from over 8,000 pieces sent into the 2023 Awards, the poet selected artworks that showcase both excellence and ingenuity. These qualities were shown in different ways by the artists, through concept, skill and story-telling, as well as through the use of unusual materials that highlights their resourcefulness. These included artworks made from crisp packets, prison issue soap, rice, seeds and even clinical waste bags.
Shaped by her own work, Joelle’s focus settled on the idea of vitrines and glass display cases as a way of exploring themes of separation and connection. The title, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, encouraged visitors to complete the well-known phrase with ‘break glass’. All the artworks were encased in various ways, whether literally or metaphorically, and this design helped draw attention to these themes. Visitors were invited to think about the way we present and look at things and how it feels to be on either side of the glass.
Listen
Listen to the music featured in this year’s exhibition, played through telephones and headphones.
Age recommendation: 18+ (May contain language some people might find upsetting)
Listen hereFrom the curator
Hear from the curator Joelle Taylor about this year’s exhibition, and take a look at some of the pieces on display.
Watch hereThanks
This exhibition is made possible by the generous support from individuals, trusts and foundations, businesses and organisations.
Special thanks to our exhibition partners, the Southbank Centre, and our exhibition sponsors: Elysium Healthcare, Sodexo Justice Services and Serco.
The writing categories, our biennial poetry anthology and the Voices from Prison even are kindly supported by the T.S. Eliot Foundation.
The Visitors’ Choice Awards for the public’s favourite exhibited artworks have been funded by Doughty Street Chambers.
Online Gallery
See a selection of work that features in this exhibition below
Memories
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Grampian, Commended Award for Craft, 2023
Separation
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Drawing, 2023
HMP A Day in the Life
HM Prison Altcourse, Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Day in the Life of Bob
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Parkhurst), Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
The Eye
Koestler Arts Mentoring Scheme, Drawing, 2023
Untitled
Atkinson Secure Unit (secure children’s home), 18 and Under Commended Award for Pastel, 2023
Woman and Man
HM Prison Full Sutton, Bella the Labrador Bronze Award for Mixed Media, 2023
Hard as Nails
Greenwich Youth Offending Service, New Beginnings Silver Award and 18 and Under Commended Award for Photography, 2023
Macrocosmic Soul
HM Prison Humber, Knox Cropper Commended Award for Mixed Media, 2023
Poppy Field
HM Young Offender Centre Hydebank Wood, Carmina Commended Award for Needlecraft, 2023
Avocado
The Spinney (secure mental health unit), Gold Award for Painting, 2023
Table
HM Prison Ashfield, Matchstick Model, 2023
Gestation
Thornford Park Hospital, Painting, 2023
Recycled Bags
HM Prison Peterborough, Fashion, 2023
Flutterby
HM Prison Holme House, Needlecraft, 2023
Sea of Hope
HM Young Offender Institution Polmont, Space Station Sixty-Five Platinum Award for Photography, 2023
His and Hers
HM Young Offender Institution Polmont, Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
Sadhguru
HM Prison Littlehey, Jill Edge Bronze Award for Portrait, 2023
Sugar
HM Prison Dumfries, Drawing, 2023
Feel My Pain
HM Prison Highpoint, Bronze Award for Printmaking, 2023
Vintage Bear
HM Prison Gartree, Textile Art, 2023
Panda
HM Prison Gartree, Zelda Cheatle Commended Award for Textile, 2023
Out of the Frame Too
HM Prison Garth, Clare Askew Platinum Award for Mixed Media, 2023
The Lost Goat
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Drake Hall, Painting, 2023
Drained
Arbury Court (secure mental health unit), Mixed Media, 2023
Melancholy
Arbury Court (secure mental health unit), Elysium Healthcare Commended Award for Portrait, 2023
Not All Black and White
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Drake Hall, Bronze Award for Watercolour & Gouache, 2023
The Conflict Within
Koestler Arts Mentoring Scheme, Painting, 2023
Mr Moody’s Day
HM Prison Dovegate, Serco Commended Award for Portrait, 2023
Girl with Golden Earring
HM Young Offender Centre Hydebank Wood, Portrait, 2023
Cheryl Tweedy
HM Prison Rye Hill, Mixed Media, 2023
Fine Art
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Rochester, Good-Sothinathan Commended Award for Digital Art, 2023
Cogs
HM Prison Rye Hill, Painting, 2023
Essence of Innocence
HM Prison Greenock, James Wood QC Silver Award for Portrait, 2023
Out of the Darkness
HM Prison Addiewell, Portrait, 2023
Space Boom
Northgate Hospital, Mark Long Commended Award for Digital Art, 2023
Moonlight City
HM Prison Magilligan, Painting, 2023
One Day in the Life of 3361
HM Prison Standford Hill, Patrick Holmes Platinum Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Burger
HM Prison Inverness, Ceramics, 2023
Quiet Contemplation
HM Prison Full Sutton, Caro Millington Highly Commended Award for Sculpture, 2023
Though Blind, I See Everything
HM Prison Full Sutton, Sir Stephen & Lady Winifred Tumim Gold Award for Sculpture, 2023
Vive La Différence
HM Prison Greenock, Painting, 2023
I Wish the Judge Could See
‘Take him down,’ the distant Judge intones.A fog descends; my life now shifts its course.
A sudden freefall, down a hundred floors,
and land, bedazed on unknown, shifting ground.
A bureaucratic Frankenstein, this place,
its mismatched parts, all blindly glued and stuck.
A spark of life; the creature creaks and groans.
Untamed, the jail becomes a beast (unknown).
The men who enter (sadly hurt and shocked)
become invisible, transparent, mute,
and what was theirs: removed, excised, undone.
The group in grey now pawns awaiting orders.
Except they’re not just pawns, these prisoners —
diverse and able — Castles, Knights and Bishops.
The prison’s work? All talent blindly squashed.
It makes no sense; I wish the judge could see.
HM Prison North Sea Camp, Silver Award for Poem, 2023
I Wish the Judge Could See
I Wish the Judge Could See
HM Prison North Sea Camp, Silver Award for Poem, 2023
Bars of Freedom
HM Prison Frankland, Printmaking, 2023
Cell Hell
HM Prison Frankland, Commended Award for Printmaking, 2023
My One Day
HM Prison Greenock, Commended Award for Printmaking, 2023
Woman’s World
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Hindley, Painting, 2023
Phantasmafeline
HM Prison Glenochil, Pastel, 2023
A Day in the Life of Soap
HM Prison Littlehey, Sally Taylor Silver Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Changing Moods
HM Prison Wealstun, Printmaking, 2023
Silence of the Wild Wind
The Humber Centre for Forensic Psychiatry, Painting, 2023
Born Ready
HM Prison Full Sutton, Commended Award for Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
The Street
Manchester Probation Service, Evelyn Plesch Platinum Award for Drawing, 2023
Felted Vessels
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Styal, Needlecraft, 2023
Little Chair
HM Prison Maghaberry, Matchstick Model, 2023
Good Looking
HM Prison Oakwood, Drawing, 2023
Portrait 1
HM Prison Oakwood, Dennis Evans Outstanding Debut Award for Portrait, 2023
Rabbit
HM Prison Gartree, Bowman Smart Bronze Award for Needlecraft, 2023
Enchanted Forest
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Styal, Mixed Media, 2023
Swimming Upstream
HM Prison Usk, Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
The Greats
HM Prison Long Lartin, Highly Commended Award for Sculpture, 2023
On the Shelf
HM Prison Dovegate, D & S Award Bronze Award for Ceramics, 2023
Age of Wisdom
HM Prison Dovegate, Sir Joseph Pilling Highly Commended Award for Ceramics, 2023
Two Sides to Every Story…
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), David Skinns Gold Award for Painting, 2023
Take Your Partners for the Last Dance
HM Prison Dovegate, Ceramics, 2023
Break the Chain
HM Prison Dovegate, TVMole Commended Award for Ceramics, 2023
The Sleeping Rabbit
HM Prison Dovegate, Pat & Bill Gordon Silver Award for Ceramics, 2023
I’ve Quit for Good!!!
HM Prison Dovegate, Highly Commended Award for Ceramics, 2023
Choose Life
HM Prison Lowdham Grange, Highly Commended Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Through the Judas Hole
HM Prison Lewes, Margaret Goff Outstanding Debut Award for Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
Elefunk
HM Prison Lewes, Drawing, 2023
Life in Your Own Hands
HM Prison Lowdham Grange, Drawing, 2023
Echoes
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Rochester, Drawing, 2023
Brain Boxes
HM Prison Bronzefield, Sodexo Justice Services Commended Award for Pastel, 2023
Parole (It’s a Myth to Some of Us)
HM Prison Dovegate, David Astor Gold Award Ceramics, 2023
Soapy Animal
HM Prison Glenochil, Hilda May Bronze Award for Sculpture, 2023
Handrails Are Here
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Silver Award for Sculpture, 2023
Militant
HM Prison Humber, Mixed Media, 2023
Chess Board and Pieces
HM Prison Edinburgh, Outstanding Debut Award for Matchstick Model, 2023
Proceed Beyond
HM Prison Swaleside, Drawing, 2023
A Bit of Baconian Munchness
HM Prison Swaleside, Commended Award for Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
By Demons Be Driven
HM Prison Swaleside, Portrait, 2023
Me and Dad
HM Prison Glenochil, Platinum Award for Printmaking, 2023
A Day In
The Spinney (secure mental health unit), Outstanding Debut Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Dream House
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, Commended Award for Craft, 2023
Dream Lady
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Hindley, Drawing, 2023
The Beautiful Expression
HM Prison Swaleside, Painting, 2023
Blurred Lines
HM Prison Standford Hill, Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Caught Smoking
HM Prison Standford Hill, Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Stark ‘Raven’ Mad
HM Prison Woodhill, Silver Award for Drawing, 2023
Impossible Paths
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), 2023
3D Deception
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Painting, 2023
Kaleidoscope
Through chaos, form and function,A brave new world glimmers fleeting.
Hidden through a lens unfocused,
The geometry of the living appears.
HM Prison Maghaberry, Molly Tandy Highly Commended Award for Poem, 2023
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope
HM Prison Maghaberry, Molly Tandy Highly Commended Award for Poem, 2023
Scorpion
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Si Pickard Commended Award for Ceramics, 2023
Scarlet’s Heart
HM Prison Holme House, Textile Art, 2023
Portrait
HM Prison Thameside, Portrait, 2023
Traditional Christmas
HM Prison Long Lartin, Platinum Award for Handmade Greetings Card, 2023
A Day in the Yard
Prisoners Abroad, Commended Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
The Call Home to Child During Covid
Prisoners Abroad, Pierce Brunt Highly Commended Award for Portrait, 2023
Study of a Stag Beetle
HM Prison Long Lartin, Highly Commended Award for Drawing, 2023
Dance of Emotion
The Hellingly Centre (secure mental health unit), Highly Commended Award for Digital Art, 2023
Complex Mirror
The Hellingly Centre (secure mental health unit), Commended Award for Digital Art, 2023
Graffiti Poem
Beyond watching eyesWith sweet and tender kisses
Our souls reached out to each other
In breathless wonder
And when I awoke
From a vast and smiling peace
I found you bathed in morning light
Quietly studying
All the messages on my
phone
HM Prison Long Lartin, Open Window Silver Award for Poem, 2023
Graffiti Poem
Graffiti Poem
HM Prison Long Lartin, Open Window Silver Award for Poem, 2023
The Hidden Masterpiece
HM Prison Shotts, Painting, 2023
Sometimes, Peace
The State Hospital, Painting, 2023
Irony
HM Prison Downview, Edmund Paton Walsh European Unity Highly Commended Award for Needlecraft, 2023
Spiral
HM Prison Shotts, Painting, 2023
Living
We live our lives afraidof the mistakes we’ve made.
We’re afraid of the people we may become
so we turn off hope and choose to be beautifully numb.
We’re afraid of our failures so we’ve become content with mediocrity
we’d rather stay in our sanctuary
than take the risk that comes with opportunity.
We make excuses about the places we come from
and the things we can’t change.
We need to take this negativity, and in our headspace rearrange.
I’m writing this from the stomach of a whale
where I am swallowed but still alive.
I’m writing this determined to do more than just
survive.
HM Prison Bure, Outstanding Debut Award for Poem, 2023
Living
Living
HM Prison Bure, Outstanding Debut Award for Poem, 2023
Ukraine Inspired Card
HM Prison Erlestoke, Handmade Greetings Card, 2023
God Save the Poetry Today
HM Prison Wandsworth, Sculpture, 2023
Encapsulated
Contented in Perspex dome he sprawledQuietly observing whilst turning, enthralled.
At the scene below, containing –
Beneath the slender cloudy apron –
Fresh sunlight illuminating mountain fissures,
Glorious light falling on churning oceans and twisting rivers.
That blue, the primary colour, does not reflect his mood,
Now rainbow-ed hues appear during Nature’s duels.
Chemically changing and constantly transforming
Myriads of textures, microscopically, reforming –
Landscapes, those best appreciated from lofty tokens,
Aged, craved for, vistas of which many have spoken.
And huge green swathes, primordial forests, our lungs,
Home to countless species which we’ve sadly expunged.
As we battle, in an seemingly endless war to vanquish,
Inhabitants by cutting, digging and building, to vanish –
Our history and precious ancestral sites,
By conglomerated removal via machined might.
Destroying, yet proclaiming each generational win,
Whilst Mother Earth watches, weeping as she spins.
Tears that fall amid thunderous stormed fury
Upon virgin and populated ground to flood and bury
The garish blight of Man’s demands,
His industrial scars with scant amends.
That unadulterated desolation from political tempest and war,
Despite suited claims, ‘this is the last, there’ll be no more’.
But time marches on clocks and history repeats,
Bringing death, pestilence, conflict and no food to eat.
And the cost? Really, just how can it be measured?
Certainly not by the development of what’s deemed treasure.
For our fragile jigsaw are land blocks reformed at our will,
During which process needless blood is often spilled.
There’s simply no cohesion, no empathetic ideal,
To unite those on a planet on which we constantly wheel.
These, were his thoughts during another orbit made,
One marking an entry in just another of Earth’s days.
HM Prison Buckley Hall, Commended Award for Poem, 2023
Encapsulated
Encapsulated
HM Prison Buckley Hall, Commended Award for Poem, 2023
Extra Terrestrial
HM Prison Send, Portrait, 2023
Machine
HM Prison Channings Wood, Printmaking, 2023
Damage Done 5
HM Prison Grendon, Drawing, 2023
Damage Done 4
HM Prison Grendon, Drawing, 2023
Damage Done 3
HM Prison Grendon, Drawing, 2023
Damage Done 2
HM Prison Grendon, Drawing, 2023
Damage Done 1
HM Prison Grendon, Drawing, 2023
Regrets
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Chelmsford, The Company of Arts Scholars Under 25s Special Award for Portrait, 2023
Discipline and Punish (After Van Gogh)
HM Prison Grendon, Printmaking, 2023
Frida
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Chelmsford, Portrait, 2023
After Eggleston and Lear
HM Prison Grendon, Translation, Transmutations, Transpositions Bronze Award for Photography, 2023
Tree of Life Always Watching
HM Prison Standford Hill, Commended Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
The Space Between
HM Prison Grendon, Highly Commended Award for Printmaking, 2023
Ammi
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, Portrait, 2023
Suit
HM Prison Thameside, Arts Society Greater London Area Platinum Award for Fashion, 2023
A Portrait of W.H. Auden
West Bromwich Probation Service, Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Gold Award for Portrait, 2023
Hitting a Wall
HM Prison Grendon, Printmaking, 2023
Anatomy of a Man
HM Prison Grendon, Printmaking, 2023
Bee
HM Prison Grendon, Highly Commended Award for Printmaking, 2023
Our Time, Our Week
HM Prison Send, David Wentworth Gold Award for Graphic Novel, 2023
Is This All You Got!?
Arbury Court (secure mental health unit), Drawing, 2023
Walkway
Southview Approved Premises, Drawing, 2023
No One Knows
St Bernard’s Hospital, Painting, 2023
Therapy
HM Prison Grendon, Silver Award for Themed Category: A Day in the Life, 2023
Wide-Eyed Man
St Bernard’s Hospital, Hope Bronze Award for Portrait, 2023
Sky
Sometimes I lie on the grassand watch the clouds in the sky,
feel the sun on my face,
listen to the seagulls.
I close my eyes,
and there could be a glass of wine just out of reach.
But this is not the same sky,
and these are not the right seagulls.
HM Prison La Moye, Commended Award for Poem, 2023
Sky
Sky
HM Prison La Moye, Commended Award for Poem, 2023
Owl in Pencil
HM Prison Onley, Drawing, 2023
Fuzzy Bubbles
HM Prison Eastwood Park, Drawing, 2023
Queen Bee
HM Prison Eastwood Park, Portrait, 2023
Ape
HM Prison Wandsworth, Arts Society Maidenhead Bronze Award for Pastel, 2023
I Am Safe
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs, Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
The Eyes Have It
HM Prison Durham, Drawing, 2023
Seen
HM Prison Lincoln, Highly Commended Award for Drawing, 2023
Tribal Abstract
Fromeside Clinic (secure mental health unit), Textile Art, 2023
Life Through My Eyes
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Norwich, Baseroom Outstanding Debut Award for Drawing, 2023
Modern Problems
HM Prison Rye Hill, Bronze Award for Graphic Novel, 2023
Card and Envelope
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Moorland, Commended Award for Handmade Greetings Card, 2023
Entity
North Ayrshire Council Criminal Justice Services, Painting, 2023
Rovina Cai
HM Prison Whatton, Portrait, 2023
Blind Justice
HM Prison Gartree, Drawing, 2023
A Day in the Life of a Black Man
HM Prison Gartree, Doorway Outstanding Debut Award for Mixed Media, 2023
Paula Rego Pencil Portrait
HM Prison Peterborough, Highly Commended Award for Portrait, 2023
The Blue Period
HM Prison Peterborough, E. Forster Under 25s Special Award for Mixed Media, 2023
Seize the Day
HM Prison Whatton, Platinum Award for Calligraphy, 2023
Pollenating
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Drawing, 2023
Tea Cosy Pete
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Reg Gadney Platinum Award for Drawing, 2023
Don’t Just Listen, Hear!
HM Prison Onley, Transformation Commended Award for Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
Kicking It
Cromwell House (secure mental health unit), Painting, 2023
Chained
HM Prison Exeter, Drawing, 2023
‘Oppin Dahn in Kent
Canterbury Probation Service, Frederick Davies Commended Award for Watercolour and Gouache, 2023
Woman
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood, Henry Humfrey Under 25s Special Award and 18 and Under Highly Commended Award for Portrait, 2023
Self
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood, Lord Ramsbotham Under 25s Special Award and 18 and Under Commended Award for Portrait, 2023