In Place of Hate: Art and Criminal Justice

In this talk I will explore ideas of visibility, representation, trauma and self-image in developing strategies of visualisation in art practice about criminal justice in English prisons, with particular reference to my work in HMP Grendon and HMP Kingston, and the subsequent exhibitions, catalogues and monographs.

Established in 1962, HMP Grendon is the only prison in Europe to operate wholly as a therapeutic community. Inmates there must have accepted responsibility for their offence, exercising a degree of control over the day-to-day running of their lives, making a commitment to intensive group therapy, democratic decision-making, and holding accountability to each other.

The talk will reflect on how prisoners and criminality are ‘seen’ in contemporary society and media discourse and strategies for visualising experiences of incarceration that question these forms of representation.