Probably the most important art exhibition
The 2026 Koestler Arts Awards Exhibition, Rock, Paper, Scissors, takes its name from the well-known children’s game and was curated by five young people from Parental Imprisonment Collective and Prison Advice and Care Trust, drawing on their own experiences. Their choices reflect themes of childhood, decisions and chance – the elements of Rock, Paper, Scissors, writes Michael Holland.
‘We want people going through the exhibition to think differently about what it means to grow up with a parent in prison. We want visitors to remember that everybody in prison was once a child too…’
I have been connected to Koestler Arts for almost 40 years, so know of the good work they do working across the criminal justice system, aiming to unlock hope, talent and potential in the lives of inmates. They are the UK’s only national arts awards programme for people within secure settings, and alongside the awards, they provide arts mentoring, and creative opportunities – working in partnership with artists, cultural organisations and those with lived experience of prisons – people who understand what it’s like to be banged up.
Having lots of experience, when I go to the annual exhibition I seek out the artwork that shows what is happening in the mind of the artists, and not just what is on the canvas or page. I want to see poignancy, taking accountability for bad choices, a sign of hope for a better future, plus I like something that can make me smile; it shows that the creator is making the best of their bad situation. After the opening speeches, there was plenty of all that to see this year in the 200+ artworks chosen from over 7,500 submissions.
With so many categories to represent, the judging must have been difficult, but there is a great cross-section of each: matchstick models, fabric, oil, acrylic, pencil, sculptures created from discarded objects…
‘Do Bears Eat Peanut Butter Sandwiches in the Woods?’ was one piece that brought a smile to my face. Made from matchsticks, paint, pen and varnish, a bear, surrounded by flowers and a pot of peanut butter, looked like they were in Paradise. It’s a good attitude for the artist to adopt when in jail – which can be Hell a lot of the time. Comedy came from a sculpture of a plate of food called Prison Food is Shit.
The poignant came from paintings that showed remembered days out before incarceration, holding their child’s hand while watching the swans swimming freely along the river; The Tears of a Clown says it all; Don’t Look Back in Anger depicted a tree withering beneath a storm on one side (Past), alive with blossom in the sun the other (Future); a cardboard sculpture of a mother and child was as touching as any Madonna and child painting in a famous gallery.
The acrylic on canvas Monkey See, Monkey Do… Pubchild highlighted in one picture how, at an early age, our futures can be bent towards a wrong path. Three men sit around a table, drinking and smoking, as the ignored boy looks in the opposite direction while drinking and smoking. Viewers will look and think about that child wishing he was somewhere else, and then contemplate the man in a high-security prison in Northern Ireland painting this scene.
The Pen, acrylic on paper, showed sheep walking around a prison exercise yard, all having to walk in the same direction at the same speed, caged in by walls and wire while a seagull flew freely in the blue sky beyond.
On Some Days a Self Portrait shows a man in despair at his situation in a Category A prison, of being at the mercy of other people’s decisions that he rarely understands. As you work your way around a collage of scenes in pen, pencil and acrylic, you see he had lost hope and felt wrongly diagnosed. His story is not unique in the prison system.
One offender in HMP Wayland put Betty Boop in jail in a 3-D piece, making the cartoon character more real when you see her behind bars. Maybe the message is that nice people also get locked up. Another, an autistic inmate in HMP Peterborough, created a huge canvas showing what their ideal world would be like. There are unicorns and hummingbirds, colourful dragonflies and a happy community enjoying the green space in the middle of town. But there is a serious side behind the whimsy in this artwork.
My absolute favourite was Final Bang Up, a panoramic cartoon-strip view of a whole prison wing, cell by cell, with the men locked inside each cell getting on with whatever they can to pass the time alone: read, exercise, write, play an instrument, drink hooch, play music on the radio, complain about loud music, have a breakdown, hang yourself…
The exhibition has been moved from the ground floor of the Southbank Centre to The Undercroft, a strange space under the brutalism above. It is smaller in size, so fewer artworks on show and more cramped on the opening night when there are many invited guests. So many, I could not get past them to view all the art as they stood chatting and networking, so will go back again this week, in quieter times, and fill in the feedback forms for the creations I like the most.
Koestler Arts is probably the most important exhibition, and award-giving charity, going, as it can potentially help and change so many people’s lives. Not just those inside, but their families and society too; if finding you have a hidden talent that can change your life for the better means you have other doors to go through other than one into a cell, then everyone can benefit.
The Undercroft, Queen Elizabeth Hall, SE1 8XX until November 29th.
Free Admission.
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/koestler-arts-rock-paper-scissors
