The view from my house...

"The view from my house... "

Writing and art from Lancashire prisons

6 March - 5 April 2009
At Preston Harris library, Market Square, Preston

Litfest presents an exhibition of new poetry and prose, visual art and film from a series of residencies in each of the prisons in Lancashire. Some of the region's best writers and artists collaborated with offenders to produce work that is insightful, reflective, often funny, and accomplished.

This exhibition is the culmination of a programme of work that set out to give offenders in Lancashire prisons the opportunity to develop as individuals through creative writing and visual art.

Groups of men in each of the six institutions in Lancashire spent two weeks with a writer and visual artist to produce new writing and artwork. The writers and artists worked in a variety of ways, giving the men the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of and engagement with the process and tools of writing and contemporary art – from writing haiku to baking fortune cookies! – and to think differently about both, and differently about themselves, and what they are capable of.

The writing they produced includes poetry and prose, which shows real talent and insight, not only into the mens’ own ideas but also into their lives. Some of this work was recorded and made into CDs for the men to keep as well as being broadcast on BBC Radio Lancashire in June 2008.

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Part of the project also included a professional development week for the six writers and four artists who were selected to work on the project, in which they learned about working in a prison environment and developed a model for working together on each residency.

The Offender Learning and Skills Service at Lancaster & Morecambe College provides the education service to Lancashire prisons. Arts interventions in prisons have real impact on prisoners attitudes and lives, which is backed up by conversations with the men who took part in the project:

“I’ve enjoyed being able to express myself in an honest way without fear of embarrassment.”
“I’ve learned that somewhere inside me is some form of poetry.”
“I’m learning to express what is hidden deep down”
“Everything – the whole experience – will stay in my mind forever.”
“I’m going to try and keep writing – something I never would have attempted before.”
“This has changed my life.”

The exhibition will tour to libraries in the county throughout 2009.

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