The group used a range of photographic methods to respond to this question, from tracing the archival images, to tracing the institution itself by making rubbings on paper towels, to studio photographs documenting everyday gestures, and to installations of work in progress.

Circles often recurred and they began cropping the images using this shape, which contrasts with the institutional surroundings. The group installed their artwork in the prison Learning Centre, Visits Room and garden. Photographing these temporary displays transformed them, along with the surrounding fabric of the place, into permanent ‘exhibits’ in the museum, which can now travel outside the prison.  

 For CAMPLE LINE, the group have selected photographs of hand gestures they have documented – flying a paper aeroplane, pouring a cup of tea – and decided on their positioning: the images will be installed on the exterior walls of the building. 

‘These images blur the distinction between process and finished work, forming an incomplete record of a complex creative conversation. The result is a textured record of a place. It is also a collaborative meditation on what it is to record, to document and to co-create, and what it means to do so whilst imprisoned’ – Alice Myers 

‘The project focuses on traces and echoes of prisoners… We tried to capture the physical and emotional perspectives of being incarcerated… It is hoped that through this project, the prison can communicate with the audience, and allow a deeper understanding of the complex life inside. Additionally, it can act as a way to capture the present for future use.’ – SW