News
Lambeth teens curate national exhibition
Young people from Lambeth Youth Offending Service have curated the Koestler Trust’s annual exhibition, ‘Art by Offenders’, opening today at the Royal Festival Hall.
27 September 2008
The show, supported by the YJB to mark its 10th anniversary, is running from 27 September to 8 November and admission is free. The exhibition showcases the artistic talents of young and adult offenders and this is the first time that young people who have offended have selected the work.
The young people, all serving community sentences, were given the tough challenge as part of their rehabilitation with the youth offending team. They were asked to take part because they all live within Lambeth, the same borough as the Royal Festival Hall. The young people learned how to hang a show following expert tutelage from freelance curator Eddie Otchere and made their selections from a massive 5,000 entries. The final selection was made according to themes that meant a lot to the young people, such as home and family life, and some of their comments are included in the displays.
Picture: Eddie Otchere, freelance curator, helps one of the young curators select the work.
One of the young curators from Lambeth YOS said:
“I like to draw myself so I’m interested. I’m doing art and design at college at the moment. People in prison don’t have the chance to be outside. I feel bad for them, looking at their work. You can see it in their work – every piece we picked was telling you something.”
Frances Done, Chair of the YJB, said:
“I am pleased that the YJB is supporting the Koestler Trust’s 2008 exhibition to mark our 10th anniversary. Many of the young artists’ in the show today are also using their work to contribute towards their GCSEs, with qualifications and skills being the foundation upon which young people in the youth justice system can build a positive life on release. This inspiring exhibition is testament to the untapped potential of many young people who, with the right support, can go on to succeed in life.”
Sir Joseph Pilling, Chair of the Koestler Trust and former Director General of HM Prison Service, said:
“The curators from Lambeth offer a perspective which is young, local and above all from offenders themselves. At the same time, it will mean a huge amount to prisoners and secure patients to have their work shown at the Royal Festival Hall. Whatever mistakes these artists have made in the past, this is public recognition of talent that can lead them to a better future. And I promise that every visitor to the exhibition will find real talent here: the power and quality of the art are breathtaking.”
Notes to editors
- The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. We work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.
- Specifically, we advise the Secretary of State on the operation of, and standards for, the youth justice system; monitor the performance of the youth justice system; purchase places for, and place, children and young people remanded or sentenced to custody; identify and promote effective practice; make grants to local authorities or other bodies to support the development of effective practice; commission research and publish information.
- It has been ten years since the first reforms to the youth justice system in 1998. Click to view our interactive timeline that charts the history of these reforms.
The Koestler Trust [opens in new window] was founded by the writer Arthur Koestler in 1962 to support the creation of art in prisons, and has subsequently developed a unique role that is recognised across the criminal justice system. It aims are to help offenders lead more positive lives by motivating them to participate in the creative arts and to demonstrate the power of arts activity in the criminal justice system.
- Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and The Hayward as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The Hayward manages Hayward Touring exhibitions; and the Arts Council Collection on behalf of Arts Council England.
- Lambeth Council’s Youth Offending Service. According to the YJB, Lambeth’s Youth Offending Service was the fastest improving service in the country last year in a number of areas of practice. The service works with approximately 650 young people a year to prevent them from re-offending and offers restorative justice options to the victims. The service also works with up to 100 parents of young people per year. Lambeth has the seventh lowest level of young people reoffending in all 32 London boroughs.
- Flipside, a charity that supports disadvantaged young people across Lambeth are one of the ‘Art by offenders’ project partners.