Bowie art and the prisoners going through changes

Contemporary art, created within the confines of a high-security men’s prison, has gone on public display. Work by HMP Grendon inmates is being shown at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery, which runs artist residencies at the prison. One programme saw Dean Kelland lead workshops there, informing not only inmates’ creations but art of his own that is now being curated at both Ikon and Grendon. Here, he and the men discuss making art on the inside, with a little help from Elvis Presley and David Bowie.

Set back from a village in the Buckinghamshire countryside, HMP Grendon is home to more than 200 inmates, all of whom are serving lengthy or life sentences.

Having opened as an experimental psychiatric centre after World War Two, it now operates as a so-called therapeutic prison, the only facility of its kind in Europe. It is often cited as the most researched prison in the world.

There the men undertake daily therapy towards rehabilitation, living in separate communities which they operate under their own constitutions.

And for those creating artwork through the guidance of Dean Kelland, there is also Elvis and Bowie.

Under programmes funded by a charitable trust and delivered by Ikon, Kelland, from Birmingham, took up an artistic residency at Grendon in 2019, and last year helped open its studio and gallery – again, a European first for a prison, and delivered amid discussions with Victim Support.

Kelland offered workshops to the men, sharing with them his art. It draws on pop iconography and uses famous subjects to tackle themes around representations of masculinity.

“The residents talked to me about how Elvis was this ideal male, and he was something to aspire to, this perfect specimen,” the artist said, “but also a fragile and failed figure.

“I expressed something similar to one of the men and the response was perfect. He said: ‘You are in absolutely the right place if you want to meet failed men’.”

Kelland, though, speaks also of major upswings in the men’s self-esteem, but before he gets to that, there is, on the heels of Elvis, a little more stardust to come.

In Kelland’s video installation, So The Days Float Through My Eyes, the men are seen wearing Bowie masks, with each holding up a card displaying the lyrics to the song Changes.

“I love the way you kept us in our everyday clothes,” one prisoner remarked to Kelland, before quoting a lyric from Bowie’s own alter ago, Ziggy Stardust.

“It creates tension between the glamour of the mask and the everyday existence we all have… it’s ‘some cat from Japan’ meets sports casual.”

Masks went on to feature in the men’s own artwork.

It followed the use of masks in their daily therapy and participation in another of Kelland’s filmed pieces, this one called – and here’s Bowie again – Absolute Beginners. The prisoners wore neutral masks for it, looking upon their own reflection in a mirror.

According to the artist: “Some of these men haven’t looked at themselves in a mirror for decades, and this was the very first time that they had confronted what’s in front of them.”

One inmate, referred to here as “B”, who is from the prison’s C wing community, has curated the exhibition of prisoners’ work on display in Birmingham. He said his painting, featured below, was about avoiding what lay beneath the multitude of masks he felt the need to wear.

“B” – his art, in his own words

“Having spent the vast majority of my life as a recidivistic, destructive and chaotic individual, I’ve first-hand knowledge of the constructive process creativity can offer.

“As a learning tool, nothing else comes close to teaching us the benefits and value of adding, rather than subtracting, from society.

“For those of us who have felt the acute coldness of isolation and ostracisation, being offered the opportunity to share our individual and collective voices is the very essence of rehabilitation.

“Allowing us to share our truth, pain and angst through our artwork helps to facilitate the transition into becoming better neighbours and more productive members of society.”

Ikon is currently recruiting a new artist in residence for Grendon – its third.

That’s because Kelland’s four-year residency is at an end.

He said he hoped he had helped the men “to become contemporary artists, or at least engage in contemporary art”.

But there had also been a further step, he said. For the men to have their art on public display was “huge for them”.

“The impact on their self esteem is massive, just to know people will see their work.”

But he too had been rewarded, he said.

The artist explained his time at the prison had been a “unique and incredible experience”, adding: “I’d like to think I’m a better person as a result of the time I’ve spent working with the men.

“I’ve learned huge amounts, both as an artist and a man.”

The prisoners’ work on display at the Ikon coincides with Kelland’s exhibition there, Imposter Syndrome; the culmination of his residency.

A version of Imposter Syndrome, curated by a prisoner, is also on display for inmates at Grendon’s gallery space.

The studio bears the name of the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust which has funded art programmes at the prison, produced by Ikon, since 2010.

But according to Kelland, it is more than a place for prisoners to simply make and display art. “It raises their ambition,” he said, “and it raises their sense of what is possible for them”.

Imposter Syndrome runs at Ikon until 22 December, and the showcase of prisoners’ work until 17 December.

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