Curated by Camille Walala and Sarah Ihler-Meyer
29 October – 5 December 2021
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
After a year of covid-lockdowns, the 2021 Koestler Arts UK exhibition of art, music and writing by people in criminal justice settings was back in Level 1 of Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall presenting around 200 powerful artworks selected from over 6,400 entries to the 2021 Koestler Awards.
French-born, London-based artist Camille Walala and her sister, curator Sarah Ihler-Meyer utilised their unique perspective and creative eye in the curation of artwork made in the UK’s criminal justice system to showcase quirky artworks made of found materials, works full of humour and joy, as well as pieces reflecting on loss, relationships and prison life, all created during the pandemic.
The exhibited artwork illuminated the amazing perseverance many within the criminal justice system have maintained during the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and with limited equipment and space to create. The unique and beautiful pieces, including sculptures carved from prison-issue soap, a dinosaur constructed from scrap paper, a tram and boat painstakingly produced from matchsticks, a painted collage composed of grains of rice and a portrait painted with coffee,were testament to the ingenuity and commitment many managed to bring to their creative practice.
Watch
Watch our exhibition film and see examples of the film & animation videos which featured in the exhibition, The I and the We, through our YouTube playlist.
Watch hereListen
Listen to the music from the exhibition, The I and the We, through our Soundcloud playlist.
Listen hereOnline Gallery
Windmill
Beyond these grillesbehind this door
and walls within my view
I’ve fought my demons
and done my time
ready to start anew.
I’ve used these bricks
to build new walls
and found something true
I’ll rise to freedom
and find my voice
well beyond this view.
HM Young Offender Centre Hydebank Wood, Victoria Dickie Under-25s Special Award for Poem, 2021
Windmill
Windmill
HM Young Offender Centre Hydebank Wood, Victoria Dickie Under-25s Special Award for Poem, 2021
Three Ladies
Here sits a man in a room.It is not his room, but it will have to do for now.
The table at which he sits is not his either,
but it is enough.
On the table, maps of the world
which he reads with enthusiasm and nostalgia,
navigating between memories and dreams,
reliving sights, sounds and intentions.
The maps now have been carefully folded away.
On the table, a collection of belongings;
landmarks in the memory of a life
loved and lost.
Sometimes there are books on the table;
some read, some not, some not yet written.
Thrillers, adventures, autobiographies
echoing his past and his future.
In a moment of weakness, the table bears food;
a veritable feast.
He can remember the tastes
and the internal glow of chilled wine.
Of course, none of it is real,
except the table itself and his imagination.
Although this life is real enough,
and it will have to do for now.
HM Prison Ashfield, Gold Award for Poem, 2021
Three Ladies
Three Ladies
HM Prison Ashfield, Gold Award for Poem, 2021
The Dancers
I was in that shadowed, lonely place(my mind a random wanderer in the night)
then, incredibly, you were there too:
us both
not quite together, but talking,
a phonecall, but next to one another;
we knew each other’s voices.
We said what mattered: my sorrys,
your acceptance, your understanding,
the quiet consolation as overwhelming
as the gentleness of it all
until
with sudden, aching dread I knew:
‚ÄòThis is a dream, isn’t it?’ I said.
The line was dead.
Littlehampton Probation Service, Commended Award for Poem, 2021, May Turnball Scholar 2019
The Dancers
The Dancers
Littlehampton Probation Service, Commended Award for Poem, 2021, May Turnball Scholar 2019
Stepping Out
Random boasting, bullying and abuse,scratching, banging, screaming,
animal impressions,
keys and chains,
birds,
dogs,
choking code blues,
smashed-up sinks and toilets,
flooding noisy neighbours,
splashing, crying,
laughing,
drones and mobile phones,
loud TVs,
dance music rising inside,
twenty-three and a half hours
for our privileges
to die.
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Bronze Award for Poem, 2021
Stepping Out
Stepping Out
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Bronze Award for Poem, 2021
Road to Nowhere
I got the right to be meI got the right to be loud and proud
I got the right to be queer
I got the right to be here
I got the right to be free
I got the right to be seen
I got the right to be vocal
I got the right to be honest and true
I got the right to be confident
I got the right to be here
I got the right to be free
I got the right to be the last of me.
HM Prison Barlinnie, First-Time Entrant Award for Poem, 2021
Road to Nowhere
Road to Nowhere
HM Prison Barlinnie, First-Time Entrant Award for Poem, 2021
Jail Break
I’ll not come back to jailSimply because
There are not enough hours in the day
Not enough days in the year
And not enough years in a lifetime
HM Prison Magilligan, Believe in Now Under-25s Special Award for Poem, 2021
Jail Break
Jail Break
HM Prison Magilligan, Believe in Now Under-25s Special Award for Poem, 2021
Alone in a Prison Cell
As I sit alone in my prisonRemembering back to bygone days
I cast my mind back to reflect
Saint Patrick’s Day when I was free
In a rundown bar on O’Connell Street
Me and my girl supped Guinness
Frothy smiling and moustaches listening
To a band singing ‚ÄòMy Lovely Horse’
Outside the sky electric blue
The sun dazzled bright yellow
People stretched as far as I could see
In the streets singing
No shouting or loud speeches
The people sang one song
Loud and proud over and over again
‚ÄòYou’ll Never Walk Alone’
HM Prison Magilligan, Highly Commended Award for Poem, 2021
Alone in a Prison Cell
Alone in a Prison Cell
HM Prison Magilligan, Highly Commended Award for Poem, 2021
Togetherness
HM Prison Lewes, Victor Roberts Highly Commended Award for Themed Category: Together, 2021
Together
HM Prison Bronzefield, Gill Hope Retirement Highly Commended Award for Themed Category: Together, 2021
This is Me
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood, Fast Feedback Commended Award for Portrait, 2021
The Long Wait
Sandwell Probation Service, Sir Stephen & Lady Winifred Tumim Gold Award for Drawing, 2021
Sayings Shopper
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Cornton Vale, Silver Award for Needlecraft, 2021
Sailing Through Life
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Styal Highly Commended Award for Drawing, 2021
Raging
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Robin & Margaret Weiss Silver Award for Ceramics, 2021
Pablo Escobar II
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood, Fast Feedback Highly Commended Award for Portrait, 2021
Out of Many One
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Emdee Bronze Award for Themed Category: Together, 2021
Old Age Dignity and Care
HM Prison Full Sutton, Otis and the Artists Bronze Award for Sculpture, 2021
Nuclear Radiation War
HM Prison Winchester, Space Station Sixty-Five Platinum Award for Sculpture, 2021
Night Behind the Bars
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Bella the Labrador Bronze Award for Painting, 2021
My Bedside Lamp Always Shines
HM Prison Glenochil, Translations, Transmutations, Transpositions Bronze Award for Mixed Media, 2021
Most Years
HM Prison The Verne, Clara Alman Highly Commended Award for Watercolour and Gouache, 2021
Millionaire Marco
HM Young Offender Institution Feltham, Arts Society Greater London Area First-Time Entrant Award for Printmaking, 2021
Lumberjack Park
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Hope First-Time Entrant Award for Matchstick Model, 2021
Keep the Faith
HM Prison Bronzefield, Christine Wong JP’s One to Watch Gold Award for Graphic Novel, 2021
Inside (My Grey Lockdown)
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Keep At It! Bronze Award for Sculpture, 2021
Here’s The Deal, We Are All Allowed One Wish
Kemble House (secure mental health unit), Commended Award for Painting, 2021
Help Me Please (Getting to Me Under Lockdown)
HM Prison Glenochil, Highly Commended Award for Painting, 2021
Happy Face
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood, Fast Feedback Highly Commended Award for Portrait, 2021
Grey Day
HM Young Offender Institution Cookham Wood, Felix Kelly Under 25s Special Award for Portrait, 2021
Green Jelli-Babees
HM Prison Wakefield, Sean Tighe Memorial Highly Commended Award for Graphic Novel, 2021
Feeling the Movement
Reading Probation Service, Daisy Jellicoe First-Time Entrant Award for Perseverance for Sculpture, 2021
Don’t Say It, Sew It
Reading Probation Service, Monday Charitable Trust Silver Award for Handmade Greetings Card, 2021
Derek the Dog
HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Parc, Highly Commended Award for Ceramics, 2021
Cellular Confinement
HM Young Offender Institution Polmont, Highly Commended Award for Drawing, 2021
Bond Together
HM Prison Isle of Wight (Albany), Freeman Bronze Award for Themed Category: Together, 2021
Boat of Freedom
Field House (secure mental health unit), Elysium Healthcare Platinum Award for Craft, 2021