“An uphill battle but one worth fighting”
After a lot of Perry’s teenage years were shared between growing up on Silwood Estate and being initiated into the world of crime in various borstals, he was then in and out of prison for most of his adult life. But for a long time now he has been establishing himself as an artist in order to show how being creative is a good thing for change as long as there are outlets for offenders with artistic talent to show their work, writes Michael Holland.
‘I’d always been a bit of a doodler, and done Art at school, but had no aspirations to take it further,’ he says. It was not until he found himself in Parkhurst prison that he joined the art class there. ‘My first painting was of the Kent village of Eynsford, with the bridge… I’d spent time there with the kids… I handed it out on a visit and the kids loved it so I done some more; people liked them.’
Painting is a constructive and therapeutic way of passing the time in jail so when Perry could see he was improving and that people liked the art he was producing he says, ‘it became a challenge to keep improving and that’s when I got the bug!’
The budding artist submitted work to the Koestler Arts Annual Exhibition on several occasions, a not-for-profit charity who work on the rehabilitation of prisoners through creativity, and always give feedback from the artist judges. This feedback is crucial to inmates and is sometimes the only thing that keeps them practising their newly unlocked talent. This motivating inspiration led to Perry studying for a degree with the Open University.
These days Perry is a free man working at a job while also making time to create new artworks. But now there is a project that he is working with that brings together everything that is close to his heart – hope for artists inside who want to change their lives around. That project is Rogues Gallery.
‘I was approached by Kate at Gartree Galleries who was curating works from ex-offenders and it grew from that,’ he reveals while scrolling through his phone to show me some of the work these people have created. ‘They hope to take up from where Koestler stops, because after release there is no real support for those wanting to make something from art. Rogues Gallery hopes to have pop-up exhibitions to help sell artists’ work and provide an income of sorts to those just coming home.’
Those involved, along with Gartree Galleries, want to link up with other galleries, artists, and institutions to help ease these artists back into society with better opportunities. Artists, Perry adds, ‘that have had unique life experiences and can articulate these through their work.’
There will be an exhibition in Shoreditch, the heartland of Outsider Art, where Perry will have some of his paintings exhibited.
And after? ‘I’d like to continue working with Rogues Gallery and make it a success so others coming behind us have a real chance to go on and turn their lives around. Bit of an uphill battle but one worth fighting.’
Rogues Gallery, 82 Commercial Street, Shoreditch, E1 6LY. Dates: 21st – 29th September. Times: 12 – 9pm. Check out the exhibition here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C_DrdiII9Hz/?igsh=eXYxYjIydzYzbHAy&wa_logging_event=video_play_open
