We are in the second week of our first Artists Prison Residencies Programme taking place in the cells of C-Wing in Shepton Mallet Prison.  The response we have had to the project from the Media and Press has been very encouraging. The project and the selected artists have been featured on BBC PointWest BBC Spotlight, BBC online and ITV.  This is the first Artists Residency programme of its kind with some artists working onsite while others work remotely from their homes due to disabilities.

 

As co-curators, Amanda Lynch and myself hope this will be the first of many projects they curator together in which artists with access needs are given the opportunity to fully participate in a live residency or exhibition.

There are thirteen female artists taking place in this year’s Prison Residency programme who are working in the cells of C-Wing.

C-wing was formerly the women’s wing of the prison, and the artists have been inspired by aspects of its history, including the imprisonment of Suffragettes, the prison’s unofficial postal service, the effects of incarceration on women’s health, and the severity of women’s sentences compared to men’s. Each artist has been allocated a cell, where they will be based for their residency.

The residency’s theme of ‘confinement’ has resonance with the current pandemic and the situation of some of the participating artists, who are disabled and have rarely left their homes over the last 18 months because of shielding restrictions. Prison Residencies aims to empower these women to take part in a residency programme at a time when they might otherwise be excluded because of their vulnerable status.

For some of the artists, Prison Residencies is a ‘live in’ experience including overnight stays in the cells. Others are participating remotely while they are confined to their homes. The programme provides an opportunity for these women to have their voices heard, and to share the stories of women who have experienced confinement in the past.

Working with a range of artforms, including textiles, film, writing, sculpture, and paper art, the artists are resident in the old prison building for 16 days. During this time, visitors are able to talk to the artists and see work in progress.

The Prison Residencies programme is run by artists and co-curators Luminara Florescu and Amanda Lynch in partnership with Shepton Mallet prison.

For her residency, Co-curator Luminara Florescu has transformed one of the cells in C-Wing into a lively research data hub. She is inspired by the daily lives of the prison officers who would have worked in the building; their strict routines, and the objects they would have used, such as their keys. Inspired by the hyper-organised nature of the prison, she is using vintage filing systems to record visitors’ responses and stories relating to the prison. Luminara has also taken on the persona of Emily Gassor, a former Victorian Prison Officers who worked at Shepton Mallet prison.

Co-curator Amanda Lynch uses a blend of digital technologies and Royal Mail post to communicate with other resident artists while she remains at home shielding. She is creating collages inspired by former prisoners and their crimes, some of which seem relatively minor by today’s standards. Some collages are based on information found in historical documents, others are fictional, representing the many women whose information was not properly recorded.

Resident artists include:

Visual artist Joanne Pudney is a former Police Officer and is using her experiences with women’s imprisonment to explore the way many women lose their identity while in prison. Using folk tales such as Rapunzel, she explores women’s experience of being in prison.

Janice Wheeler began to lose her sight in 2014, and during lockdown, her guide dog companion died unexpectedly, leading her to feel even more isolated. During her residency, Janice is creating an interactive artwork with names in Braille. The names will be chosen by visitors to remember people who have been isolated.

Carrie Mason is exploring how the prisoners at Shepton Mallet spent their time each day, and how perception of time changes when your time is not in your control. Carrie has been researching the extended sense of the present that is experienced under periods of long restriction. She is making a series of drawings that reflect how time passed for prisoners over a 24-hour period.

Polly Hall is exploring the theme of communication within the prison environment by covering the ceiling of her cell with white helium-filled balloons. Attached to the balloon tails will be scraps of envelopes with written thoughts and overheard snippets of conversations. The balloons represent speech bubbles, and the colour white was significant for the Suffragettes, some of whom were imprisoned at Shepton Mallet. The artist aims to highlight the contrast between the oppressive history of the building and balloons with their association with joy, childhood and parties.

Deirdre Porter-Hanson is using the craft skills traditionally associated with women’s work in prison. She is investigating the work that prisoners did, and exploring the fabrics associated with prison life, including the use of mattress covers as alternatives to coffins for executed prisoners.

Silvia Carderelli-Gronau is a dance artist, film-maker, and dance movement therapist. She is making a screen-dance film inspired by immersion in the prison space, investigating the qualities of movement that emerge from experiences of isolation, confinement, space restriction and solitude.

Multi-disciplinary artist Emma Rose is working remotely. She is interested in why women were put in prison and has discovered that theft was a frequent crime. Emma has created an experience in a cell so that it feels like walking into a familiar room. Ordinary items are displayed, such as bedsheets, simple food and coats – things that were commonly stolen by women in order to survive. Although the objects she uses are not deemed valuable by most people today, their theft in the past would have incurred a lengthy prison sentence.

Fiona Winning is exploring the theme of Respect as she reflects on her time spent working in prisons as an educator. She has created spaces with C-Wing for Thinking, Listening and Making.

Sharon Gale has embroidered the names and prison sentences of two women held at Shepton Mallet prison onto two Victorian-style prison aprons, which visitors are invited to try on.

Sally Wilkinson has created postcards from thoughts and feelings contributed by the public and intends to send a digital collage to a number of visitors who took part.

Victoria Bone is exploring the repetitive patterns of movement made by prisoners; both the enforced routines of prison life and the ritualistic patterns of movement they may have created for themselves in order to gain back some autonomy.

Prison Residencies takes place at Shepton Mallet Prison from 18 September to 3 October, when visitors can see the art being created, meet the artists and talk about their work. Tickets can be booked online in advance. Prison Residencies is open from 11am to 4pm each day.

There is an online diary of photographs and videos with contributions from the artists, as well as daily live updates and online artist talks on the Prison Residencies website and on social media.

 


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