My path was exhibited at Sheffield Millennium gallery between 20 May to 20 June just after restrictions were lifted for the pandemic. I went there in person as I was on a date at the time wearing face masks.
My Path: Art by People in the Criminal Justice System was the first Koestler Arts exhibition in Yorkshire. Each of the 61 artworks on display was made by someone in prison, a secure hospital, a young offender institution or on probation.
The pieces were chosen from over 300 artworks entered into the 2020 Koestler Awards from Yorkshire. Many of the artworks, therefore, were created during the height of the pandemic in establishments that had 23-hour lockups in place.
Koestler Arts
I found this an emotive experience and possibly the finest exhibition I have seen this year. It’s from a selection of society who may never have known they had this talent if it wasn’t perhaps their circumstances that enabled this to happen.
Examples of the work exhibited:
Time Past
Today is the day
Yesterday has gone
Tomorrow is the future
As yet we have none
When the future arrives
It will be the past
Because time moves so fast
There is no “this second”
As the next awaits
By the time the second arrives
It is too late
It is the past
But will it ever be the last
We will not know
Until the future
Becomes our past
Time past
HM Prison Full Sutton
Commended award for poem
As you can see the work was enriching and spoke from the heart and their was a sense of pride that these pictures were seen by an audience not just for the persons involved but the curators themselves.
This exhibition further ennobled the fact that art is important and is an institution we should be proud of and has redemptive qualities to it.
Rusty'sArtWerk 