Mirrors:
Prison Portraits
An introduction
CONTENTS
3
Identity at Stake
Introductory essay by Robin Baillie
9 HMP Shotts
13 HMP Greenock
17 HM YOI Polmont
21 HMP Barlinnie
25 HMP Open Estate
29 Mirrors
Documentary Film
30 Comments Book
32 Participants
Credits
Inside Back Cover
Mirrors DVD
This project is part of Inspiring Change – a structured Education
Outreach programme of high-quality arts interventions in
Scottish prisons led by Motherwell College, including the Scottish
Ensemble, Scottish Opera, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the
National Youth Choir of Scotland, the Traverse Theatre and the
Citizens Theatre, together with the National Galleries of Scotland.
An Inspire Project supported by the National Lottery through
Creative Scotland and partner organisations, this unique and
innovative project pilots new ways of supporting the learning
and rehabilitation of offenders.
Inspiring Change was designed to prove the beneficial impact
of arts projects on offenders. An evaluation of the project was
undertaken by researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Strathclyde.
The National Galleries of Scotland is committed to increasing
access to its collections, creating a ‘Gallery without walls’ that
enables the educational potential of those collections to be
developed and proves their effectiveness in relation to the
discussion of key social issues. The Inspiring Change project
provided an ideal platform to achieve these objectives.
Mirrors: Prison Portraits, the exhibition of art produced during
this project, was held from 4 November 2010-27 March 2011
in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.
3
Identity at Stake
‘Sometimes I just want to start again. I want
to be a blank canvas.’
Participant, HMP Shotts.
Quoted from Mirrors documentary film.
‘Reciprocally, we imagine ourselves as the
objects of the point of view of others: society
is the “mirror” in which we regulate our
“countenance and behaviour”.’
Left (Fig.1): Douglas Gordon,
Monster Reborn, 2002.
Photograph, 93.3 x 127 cm,
Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art © Courtesy of
the artist.
4
IDENTITY AT STAKE
Ian Duncan, Scott’s Shadow:
The Novel in Romantic Edinburgh (2007)
“Who am I?” This simple question is central to the self-portrait. The ability
to answer this question also begins to unlock the door to participation in
society. Having a sense of a self that can be described, that can be affected
by, and that can affect others, is crucial to acting socially. For the majority
of those in Scotland’s prisons the means to develop that sense of selfempowerment and control over one’s life have been severely limited.2
The National Galleries of Scotland’s Mirrors: Prison Portraits project sought
to offer offenders the creative means to fashion a self-representation that
would increase their feeling of self-worth. Fashioning yourself for others’
view is a crucial component of modern life. It imaginatively integrates
the individual into the community. What selves are acceptable? Which
desires must remain unsatisfied and which actions avoided? The creation
of one self-portrait within a pilot arts project may appear to be a limited
endeavour, but the singular experience of learning to form an object of
value – a work of art – to be shared with others, using oneself as subjectmatter, to be shared with others, may be profound. This seems especially
so for those who have damaged themselves, and who may have damaged
others, and are seeking a positive renewal of their lives.
5
The history of portraiture has witnessed both the birth of the idea of a
unified, unique personality that can be captured as an image, and the
disintegration of that idea of an undivided self. The national art collection
holds portraits by artists from Allan Ramsay to Douglas Gordon that
reveal this steady rise of the ‘self’ and its subsequent fragmentation and
dispersal in contemporary society.
projects. Unfortunately, those from disadvantaged social groups who have
frequently suffered from inequality, poverty, poor educational attainment
and the ravages of unemployment, drugs and crime, are more likely to feel
themselves the victims of circumstances, rather than their master.
Working in five Scottish prisons in 2010, the National Galleries of
Scotland’s outreach officers and commissioned artists aimed to use the
national collection of portraits as inspiration to aid the process of the
rehabilitation of offenders. We invited those whose identities had been
shaped by the designation ‘criminal’, to begin to rebuild their sense of
self. 3 Participants were encouraged to take up the challenge of creating a
portrait that reflected themselves and their lives, and their ability to project
a positive future.
Above: (Fig.3) Sir Henry
Raeburn, Robert Macqueen,
Lord Braxfield, 1722-1799. Lord
Justice-Clerk, c1798, Scottish
National Portrait Gallery
Left (Fig.2): Ken Currie, Three
Oncologists (Professor R.J. Steele,
Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri
and Professor Sir David P. Lane
of the Department of Surgery
and Molecular Oncology,
Ninewells Hospital, Dundee,
2002, Scottish National Portrait
Gallery © Courtesy of the artist.
For the short-term women offenders in HMP Greenock, gender issues
weighed heavily in their identification with the photographic portraits
of contemporary American artist Cindy Sherman, and her compatriot
Francesca Woodman (whose photographs are part of the ARTIST ROOMS
collection, joint-owned and managed by the National Galleries of Scotland
and Tate). Sherman’s attempts to reveal the constriction of female gender
roles pushed towards the grotesque by the mass-media, were understood
by women often at the mercy of undue male influence over their lives. The
positive release they experienced from taking control of the construction
of their own images is evident in their imaginative self-portraits, and in the
feedback they have communicated to the Inspiring Change evaluation team.
Below: Drawing by participant,
HM YOI Polmont, 2010
© NGS, Fraser Gray and
Motherwell College, 2010
To define the quality that was necessary to bind the individualised subjects
of modernity into a functioning civil society, the Scottish enlightenment
moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith developed the concept of
sympathy. Sir Henry’s Raeburn’s late 18th and early 19th-century portrait
paintings in the national art collection display the emergence of a reflective
moral physiognomy at work in his depictions of the faces of his sitters.
(Figure 3). The self-command and self-possession beaming from the
heroes of Edinburgh’s ‘Golden Age’ attest to the role of the portrait in
proving social standing and social value.
As participants in the five prisons came up against the weight of their
task to redefine themselves through the process of portraiture, those
qualities of self-command and sympathy were tested over and over again
by those who often spoke of ‘never having thought about themselves’. The
offenders’ revealed feelings about themselves which were of self-awareness
or often centred on this lack, an empty space, in glaring opposition to the
seemingly composed individuals of the historical portraits staring back at
them at from National Galleries of Scotland catalogues. Modern society
thrives on the development of individuals as self-conscious, instrumental
6
IDENTITY AT STAKE
In HMP Shotts long-term prisoners probed and discussed a selection
of portraits – identifying, for example, deep loss and sadness in the eyes
of the fading, and alcoholic, ‘Young Pretender’, Prince Charles Edward
Stuart, whose royal status is irretrievably lost (Figure 4). This interpretative
analysis allowed the participants to get behind the official masks in these
images and to take an emotional approach. This emotional approach was
especially appropriate for a contemporary portrait such as Ken Currie’s,
Three Oncologists (Figure 2). Here the fearsome spectre of cancer haunts
the very bodies of its subjects who, although they are cancer specialists,
seem to embody the fears of those facing the disease. Analysing Currie’s
painting as an example of a social statement delivered through a portrait,
was a powerful experience for project participants. It demonstrated
to them that a major social problem could be confronted through
the depiction of the individuals committed to addressing it. It was an
inspiration that the men in HMP Shotts took to heart.
Above: John Kay, Lawyer
and Client, 1790, National
Galleries of Scotland
Above (Fig.4): Hugh Douglas
Hamilton, Prince Charles
Edward Stewart, 1720-1788.
Eldest son of Prince James
Francis Edward Stewart,
c1785, Scottish National
Portrait Gallery
Young men in HM Young Offenders’ Institution at Polmont confronted
issues of type-casting on the one hand, and their limited means of selfdefinition on the other. Douglas Gordon’s double self-portrait, Monster
Reborn (Figure 1), highlights the thin line that exists between being
regarded as monstrous (merely by distorting his facial features with
the application of Sellotape) and thus excluded from society, and being
accepted as normal. The young men often shied away from depicting
their own faces and opted to hide behind the logos and labels of
consumer goods as a means of identifying themselves. Artist Fraser Gray
and National Galleries of Scotland outreach officer Richie Cumming
encouraged those taking part to project a cut-out self-portrait avatar into
a real-life location where it was then photographed. This re-positioning
demanded an awareness on the part of the young men about how they
would be seen by others, when released back into society.
In HMP Barlinnie artist Kevin Reid moved further from the individualised
model of the traditional portrait, and asked the participants to create
scenes and stories for a graphic novel. Caustic prints by the Dadaist George
Grosz (from the collection of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern
Art), set the tone for a set of drawings and storyboards that speak about
the reality of the environments from which these short-term prisoners
come. The blight of social deprivation and the ongoing cycles of violent
attack and retaliation are the background to the men’s ironic yet clearsighted understanding of their crimes and their position in society. They
7
are on record as praising the freedom and responsibility they were given
by the artist to speak from where they were actually placed, rather than
from a notionally reformed position. As a result, their work hints at the
bleak landscape to which they will return on leaving prison. Their book is a
collaborative portrait, animated by a reflective awareness of the paths that
their own lives have taken in relation to a societal structure that has done
them few favours. As such, it asks its reader to share in the need to create
a collective solution to the cycle of inherited deprivation to which those in
HMP Barlinnie will return.
Above: Photograph of
participant, HMP Greenock,
2010 © NGS, Craig Maclean
and Motherwell College 2011
Facing page left: Francesca
Woodman, Untitled, ARTIST
ROOMS National Galleries of
Scotland and Tate. Acquired
jointly through The d’Offay
Donation with assistance
from the National Heritage
Memorial Fund and The Art
Fund 2008 © Courtesy of
George and Betty Woodman
8
IDENTITY AT STAKE
1.
Ian Duncan, Scott’s Shadow:
The Novel in Romantic Edinburgh 2007, p.265 Princeton University Press.
2.
Unpublished paper by Mike
Nellis, Emeritus professor,
University of Strathclyde,
reveals that 70% of those in
Scotland’s jails come from the
five most deprived Council
Wards in the country. Jan 2010.
3.
Inspiring Change evaluation
(2011) undertaken into the
effect of the overall Inspiring
Change project by academics
from the universities of
Edinburgh, Glasgow and
Strathclyde, reveals ‘spoiled
identities’ as something
participants wanted to
overcome through the project.
If this cycle is to be broken then offenders need to be supported in their role
as members of their families, establishing stable homes and law-abiding
lives. At HMP Open Estate those nearing the end of their sentences were
asked to produce photographs of ‘Home’ whilst on leave. These images
reflect the everyday circumstances of normal life, poignantly displaying
the men’s precious feeling for others and their own hopes for fulfilment.
Criminology’s theory of ‘desistance’ – whereby the offender eventually is
tied more strongly to children, family and stability, and offending begins
to cease – begins to take on an achievable form in these photographs.
Pertinently, re-employment rates for those leaving prison are small and
continued support from the authorities is slim. As the participant released
back into society at the end of the Mirrors documentary film points out,
‘You know… they talk about community, but I don’t see much evidence of
community out here.’ This statement is a challenge to us all in the field of
community-based arts and as fellow citizens.
The precious subjectivity that empowers individuals to form a definable
and productive identity is one of the defining qualities of our society. This
sense of reflection and agency has been achieved to some extent by the
men and women taking part in the Mirrors project. Moreover, participants
have stressed the change that has taken place whereby they have openly
discussed personal issues and supported each other as members of a
group sharing in the process of creativity and rehabilitation. This is very
unusual in the prison situation where privacy is guarded closely.
Creating portraits, and proudly exhibiting them, has proved to be an
extremely powerful mechanism for those seeking to begin to change their
lives. The works of art in this exhibition demand attention and engagement
on that basis alone. Further to this achievement though, is the effect the
Mirrors exhibition and film has had on the public. Visitors to the exhibition
have been overwhelmingly positive towards both the aims of the project
and the quality of the work on offer. our evaluation also attests to the
willingness of members of the public to encounter the lives and thoughts
of those who have ended up in prison, and to join with them in the task of
projecting the possibility of a collective solution to the many lives that are
wasted in our society.
In the final moments of the film a participant holds up his finally
completed portrait and proudly states, ‘There is a face there now.
At the start I never thought I would ever be able to put a face on it.’
Robin Baillie,
Senior Outreach Officer,
National Galleries of Scotland
9
HMP Shotts
Doppelganger
‘I forced myself to look at the
part of me that committed a
crime. This wasn’t easy as I
generally don’t think of myself
as a ‘bad guy’– it was like
looking at my evil twin. The
choice of the ‘Transformers’
t-shirt acknowledges the fact
I’ve done wrong and have
changed.’
Participant, HMP Shotts
‘For the first time I have been able to look at
myself and realise how I have led my life.’
Participant, HMP Shotts
The figurative portraits made by long-term prisoners in HMP Shotts were
deeply felt and and skilfully produced. Created as a result of the process of
self-examination intended in the project’s aim, they reveal the inner lives of
their artists.
Right: Richard Dadd, Sir
Alexander Morrison, 16791866, Alienist, 1852, Scottish
National Portrait Gallery.
Purchased with assistance
from the National Heritage
Memorial Fund 1984
Facing page left: Participant,
HMP Shotts, Doppelganger,
2010 © NGS and Motherwell
College, 2011
Working with National
Galleries of Scotland (NGS)
senior outreach officer Robin
Baillie, the participants were
moved by discovering the
motivations behind portraits
in the national art collection.
Learning more about the
lives of seemingly inscrutable
national icons, such as the
Earl Haig, J.M. Barrie and
Prince Charles Edward Stuart,
enabled them to see behind
the official masks presented
in those portraits.
Armed with this critical insight into the staged nature of portraits, the
men were encouraged to reflect on their own self-images and take on the
challenging task of representing themselves.
The participants responded strongly to the presence of filmmaker Lou
MacLoughlan who held up another ‘mirror’ to their lives, encouraging
them to describe the inner journey they took whilst creating a self-portrait.
Due to the intimate collaborative presence of Lou and her camera, the
men thought deeply about who they are and what they might become.
10
HMP SHOTTS
11
Facing page left and this page;
Paintings by HMP Shotts
participants, 2010 © NGS
and Motherwell College 2011
‘Taking part in the project has been a really
positive experience for me. Self-portraiture
was a very clever choice as it posed issues both
technically – representing ourselves – but also
having to look at ourselves objectively and deal
with issues from our pasts. I feel immensely
proud knowing our work will be on display
in such a prestigious setting – proving positive
things can come out of prisons.’
Participant, HMP Shotts
Still Life
‘The coke bottle stands for a bad period in my life
and the boxing gloves for a missed opportunity
when I was young.’
12
HMP SHOTTS
Participant, HMP Shotts
13
HMP Greenock
‘I am going to college when I get out, to do more
photography, and I think it will make me go on
with my life and not be doing no more crime.’
Participant, HMP Greenock
Female offenders in HMP Greenock, led by photographer Craig MacLean
and supported by NGS outreach officer Richie Cumming and make-up
artist Heather Chan, produced revealing digitally screened portraits
inspired by the work of Cindy Sherman and Francesca Woodman.
The women were encouraged to discuss a range
of portraits from the national art collection.
Particular attention was given to the work of
Sherman, but the life and work of Francesca
Woodman – emotional yet blurred images of
herself nude – were also inspirational for many
of the participants.
Right: Cindy Sherman
Untitled, 2002, Colour
photograph, 54 x 36 inches,
137.2 x 91.4 cm. Courtesy of
the Artist and Metro Pictures
Facing page left: Participant,
HMP Greenock, Angel, 2010
© NGS, Craig Maclean and
Motherwell College 2011
Working together in small groups, the women
helped each other develop fictional characters
to embody an element of their own personality
or situation in life, including their hopes or
regrets.
The first sessions were spent taking exploratory photographs, thinking
about costumes, make-up and composition, before two days of photoshoots in the prison’s vocational workshop – transformed into a
professional photography studio.
Craig MacLean explains:
‘Our job was simply to provide a stimulus and help the women develop
their ideas, along with the technical know-how to achieve them. We looked
14
HMP GREENOCK
15
at work in the NGS collection made by women artists. We focused on
Cindy Sherman’s distinctive self-portraits – in which she dresses herself as
a female stereotype and shows how others, particularly men, see women.
Some participants directly reflect their thoughts about their present
lives, others reflect on their past experiences and others deal with inner
character – importantly, all the images are individual.’
These compelling images, and feedback from the women who participated,
illustrate the powerful effect of the project and the sense of control it gave
them over their lives.
‘So now I hopefully have a future career – all
because this course helped me make up my
mind and look towards the future.’
Participant, HMP Greenock
Facing page left: Photographs
by HMP Greenock
participants (left to right):
Freedom, Untitled, Fashionista,
Medusa Hepburn, Untitled,
Untitled, Untitled, Joker, Lady
Gaga, 2010 © NGS, Craig
Maclean and Motherwell
College 2011
This page right: Participant,
HMP Greenock, animation
still, Freedom © NGS, Craig
Maclean and Motherwell
College 2011
Freedom
‘…because that’s what you crave in that
environment. That’s what you can’t really
express in this world. Mainly because we’re not
all “free” to do as we please – that is in a good and
a bad way, because at the end of the day we are
all in chains – restricted to be ourselves.’
Participant, HMP Greenock
17
HM Young
Offenders
Institute Polmont
‘I think people will know the story from ma
portrait. The project wiz top notch!’
Participant, HM YOI Polmont
Young offenders in HM YOI Polmont worked with artist Fraser Gray and
NGS outreach officer Richie Cumming, to draw life-size graphic characters
based on their own image and experiences. These images were traced
from projected photographs taken on the project.
In order to develop a real-life context for these ‘avatar portraits’, the
participants discussed how real individuals have been represented
by artists. They analysed a range of work by artists in the national art
collection: Douglas Gordon, Jeff Koons, Ken Currie, Helen Chadwick and
Henry Raeburn, alongside the work of Armsrock, Banksy and Lucy Orta.
Facing page left; Participant,
HM YOI Polmont, Close,
2010 © NGS, Fraser Gray
and Motherwell College 2011
The young men were encouraged to discuss and develop their characters’
history, personality and options. To encourage them to consider their life
outside and to contemplate their future in society, the finished figures were
taken outside the confines of the prison by the artist and outreach officer,
and photographed in generic locations suggested by their makers.
Artist Fraser Gray described the challenge as follows:
‘We wanted the participants to face their replicas on a 1:1 scale.
This prompted in-depth discussions regarding their behaviour and
the impact they had on other people, whilst considering who would view
their work and how they would be perceived.
‘Here stands a wee ned,
Aggressive ASBO advert,
Nae good in your eyes.’ Several lads found it difficult, or were unwilling, to recreate their facial
likeness and instead shielded themselves with the brand names and
logos of consumer items that they strongly identified with. Others
seriously engaged with the opportunity to examine who they were and why
they were in custody.’
Haiku by participant from
HM YOI Polmont
18
HM YOI POLMONT
19
All Drawn In
‘People will know the story
of ma portrait by the colour
difference between the two.
The grey one is me inside
jail, all drawn in and looking
sad. The brighter one of me
looking happier and with a
bit of meat aboot me…it’s me
oot of the jail!’
Participant, HM YOI Polmont
20
HMP SHOTTS
Facing page left: Participant HM YOI Polmont, All Drawn In, 2010 © NGS, Fraser Gray and Motherwell College 2011
Above: Photographs of situated artworks by HM YOI Polmont participants, all images: Untitled, 2010 © NGS, Fraser Gray and Motherwell College 2011
HMP Barlinnie
‘We’re really enjoying the drawing. We’re getting
to do ‘real art’. I can imagine trying to make a
living doing this.’
Participant, HMP Barlinnie
Offenders with short-term
sentences in HMP Barlinnie
created and published a gritty,
fast-moving graphic novel. In the
exhibition three bold silk-screened
print versions of images drawn
from the book were displayed
alongside pages from the novel.
Artist Kevin Reid inspired the
men to draw short episodes
dealing with crime, violence,
life-chances and potential
pathways away from offending.
The sharp and caustic honesty
of their drawings and poems
reflects the reality of life in
communities blighted by these
problems. They have made
mistakes, and the consequences
of those mistakes are endured,
but as artists they challenge us
to offer up our solutions to a
collective problem.
Facing page left: Kevin Reid,
Introductory page from Don’t
Judge a Book by its Cover,
2010 © NGS, Kevin Reid and
Motherwell College 2011
22
HMP BARLINNIE
Above: George Grosz, Die Besitzkröten [Toads
of Property], 1920, Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art © DACS 2010 (Grosz)
Given the freedom and creative space to look at themselves, and the
circumstances which led to them being incarcerated, the participants
produced a witty and clear-eyed book which addresses us all.
23
Kevin explained what lay behind the process:
‘When I was a youth I escaped into comic books – Eagle and 2000AD being
my favourite ink-stained fodder. Bold typeface and simple imagery is the
backbone of television, fashion, newspapers and all media.
We wanted to show how an inmate’s life, ideas, problems, memories and
escapist visions could be channelled through a pen and into some kind
of narrative within ‘cells’ or boxes – mirroring everyday prison life and the
strain of ‘time’.
After looking at prints by George Grosz, William Strang and Surrealist
imagery from the national art collection that matched this graphic style,
the inmates sketched the everyday, the absurd, the mundane and the
fantastical into a collection of sorts.
This page and right: Drawings
by HMP Barlinnie participants,
Images taken from Don’t
Judge a Book by its Cover,
2010 © NGS, Kevin Reid and
Motherwell College 2011
My main aim was to allow the inmates complete control of the
publication – its layout, content and style – with me working as an editor.
We had many discussions about what could be shown or told. There was
a growing realisation in the men about the perceptions society – ‘those
who might read the book’ – may have of them.
The book is a fathomable object that can be easily shown, shared and
given to family, friends and strangers in order to share the inmates’
thoughts. It hopefully entertains, educates and gives some insight into
prison life.’
24
HMP BARLINNIE
25
HMP Open Estate
At HMP Open Estate photographer Fin Macrae asked those nearing
the end of their sentences to reflect on the concept of ‘home’. The
photographs displayed here represent the reality of rehabilitation –
real lives and real choices – outside of prison.
The workshops began with discussions
on the history of photography,
portraiture and early cameras – drawing
on the national art collection’s
significant holdings of photographic
images for inspiration.
Facing page left: Participant,
HMP Open Estate (Castle
Huntly), Gravestone, 2010
© NGS, Fin Macrae and
Motherwell College 2011
Gravestone
‘The reason I took this picture was to
show how important families are to
a prisoner and to me especially.’
Whilst on home leave the participants
shot their images using pinhole
cameras they constructed themselves.
What we see in these moving
photographs is the pinhole camera’s
tendency to develop an aura around
ordinary scenes.
Participant, HMP Open Estate
Above right: Milton Rogovin,
Scottish Miners, 1982,
Scottish National Portrait
Gallery ©Milton Rogovin
1982 Courtesy The Rogovin
Collection, LLC
The men composed their scenes
from the everyday surroundings
they returned to, but the images are
resonant with their hopes of rebuilding
their lives. The photographs highlight
the sense of individuals – often
isolated – facing up to the challenge
of creating new lifestyles and identities.
Right: Participant, HMP
Open Estate (Castle Huntly),
The Way I Feel, 2010 © NGS,
Fin Macrae and Motherwell
College 2011
‘It’s taught me how to see me – how to see my
life from the outside.’
26
HMP OPEN ESTATE
Participant, HMP Open Estate
27
Left on facing page:
Photographs by HMP Open
Estate (Castle Huntly)
participants, left to right,
Shadow, Untitled, Sunset,
Window, 2010 © NGS, Fin
Macrae and Motherwell
College 2011
Right: Thomas Annan, Close,
No. 46 Saltmarket, from Old
Closes and Streets of Glasgow,
1868-71, Scottish National
Portrait Gallery
Fin Macrae described his aims for the project:
‘I was particularly keen that the images shot by the prisoners were all
from outside prison – an alternative life – either a reflection on the past
or thoughts of the potential of the future. The portraits relate to the
participant in an environment – sometimes in the frame, sometimes
not – but always interacting with the scene. I had subtitled the project Ghosts in the Machine… ghosts flitting through
a scene… temporary appearances recorded as permanent… men moving
through a system that is like a machine – not necessarily designed to work
with the individual. The images portray something of everyday life… hope
and optimism for the future, while expressing strongly a sense of loss. These are experiences and emotions that we can all identify with, whether
we have been ‘inside’ or not.
28
HMP OPEN ESTATE
29
Mirrors:
Documentary
Film
Featuring participants from HMP Shotts and HMP Open Estate
Facing page left: Images from
Mirrors (Art Class), 2010
© NGS, Lou McLoughlan
and Motherwell College 2011
Director Lou McLoughlan’s film grips the viewer with its moving account
of the investigative and creative power of the self-portrait. Her film was
commissioned as a creative response to the Mirrors: Prison Portraits project.
Lou McLoughlan worked in close collaboration with the participants on
the National Galleries of Scotland’s projects in HMP Shotts and HMP
Open Estate. Her film’s power lies in its visual simplicity. It successfully
transmits the redemptive process of making self-portraits as part of
rehabilitation.
Lou’s ability to gain the trust of the participants enables them to share
their most personal thoughts about the images they have created. These
authentic voices are at the core of her film, providing additional insight
alongside the hands we see carefully engaged in creating works of art.
The medium of film enhances the reflective nature of the project. Lou’s
camera acts as a ‘mirror’, witnessing the process of individuals exploring
themselves and developing potential routes out of offending.
Lou McLoughlan describes her film as follows:
‘It depicts creative acts made in challenging circumstances. By following
the mark-making and thoughts of a group of prisoners as they make selfportraits, this film is a compelling portrait of self-reflection and change.
It is a portrait of art-making at its most courageous.’
A DVD copy of the film is included at the back of this book.
30
MIRRORS DOCUMENTARY FILM
31
Comments Book
Here is a selection of the public responses to the exhibition taken from the
Comments Book and the feedback forms provided in the exhibition.
What do you think of the exhibition?
• I found it very interesting to get some insights into the mind of offenders
through art. This way they can communicate to an audience who would
probably never listen otherwise.
• Personally I find this exhibition inspiring and interesting. Art therapy is
rewarding both for prisoners and teachers, also for those viewing the work.
It should also help to bring some understanding of the criminal justice
system to the wider community.
• Thought-provoking. My initial reaction is ‘oh, something different’, but
soon, I’m more deeply touched by the honesty – the powerful yearning for
freedom, the grief over time lost, opportunities wasted. The question of
talent – which some clearly have – seems less important than the question
of mercy and forgiveness not only from society to its outcasts, or the
victims of the offender, but also the one stamped ‘wrong un’ or ‘defective’,
or ‘bad’ or ‘criminal’, or the ones wielding the stamps. Too many of our
solutions to society’s evils end in the violence of incarceration–a violence
not merely physical, but more dreadfully and critically mental, emotional,
spiritual. Seeing these photos, paintings, sketches, drawings and comic
art gives me hope for the healing of a system that wounds those who often
times are most in need of a listening ear, a kind word and a voice.
• The variety is brilliant, something for everyone. Really important for lessening
divides in society. I hope it reaches as wide an audience as possible.
• It is a very imaginative and well-conceived project that should help
prisoners and staff in prison and the public through increased
understanding about prison and what it does.
Has the work on show changed or challenged any of
your opinions towards offenders?
• It reminds you that people are just human and how easy it is to go down
the wrong path and end up in jail. Also the majority of prisoners are
remorseful of their actions and have paid the price for their crime.
• They are people. We all have our dark sides and our bright side, we all wear
masks to conceal brokenness.
• Yes definitely, I think many people see offenders as people who do not know
how to contribute to society other than through crime. This exhibition gives a
chance to reconsider and reflect on how important self expression is to all.
• It’s a reminder of the heterogeneity of prisoners.
• Not so much changed my opinion of offenders – I mean ‘let he who is
without sin’- as it has brought home the fact of the emotions that continue
to work in the breast of us all, even if behind bars, or hidden from the view
of ‘non-offenders’.
• No, because I have always believed in young men/women to have the
capacity for change. This merely confirms that belief.
• Of course, but as my son had a custodial sentence I have insight into
offenders and their families.
• It allows you to see that there are two sides to their story.
• The past seems to affect different offenders in different ways. Brittleness
and boredom. Is there remorse in there somewhere?
• Definitely challenged. It made me consider the discomfort that I realised I
may experience if I was talking to an offender. It will take me a long time to
change my opinion having considered this if indeed change it at all.
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HMP SHOTTSBOOK
COMMENTS
• There is often a perception that criminals are bad through and through.
Young offenders in particular are seen as having no ‘inner life’ no capacity
for self reflection and change. The exhibition challenges that view. I
was also struck by how little the women looked like criminals, whatever
criminals look like!
Do you consider arts projects with prisoners such
as this worthwhile?
• I think projects like this are definitely worthwhile, it is evident from the
results that many of these people have talents they can pursue on release
and a new way of expressing themselves that doesn’t lead to jail.
• Yes, particularly the extent and depth of it, it wasn’t just a one-day project
but a journey.
• Yes it creates a bridge back to society so that when they are released they
are not apart, or others.
• I think these projects are very worthwhile. The help offenders think about
their lives and about where they’re going, and show them that there is
another side of life. They also encourage those who see the projects to see
these people in a different light.
• Absolutely! It asks all members of society to question themselves, how
things are and how to change them. It can only make everyone more openminded and adds insight into exactly how things are.
• Yes, it gives them a chance to re-engage with artistic society and realize
that they can achieve something.
• Yes I think so, moreover, I think it’s a good education for both prisoners
and viewers.
• Yes, very worthwhile. Whilst sharing experiences verbally with others can
help, I am sure that taking time to document or reflect though art must
repair on another level.
• Yes, it gives the prisoners increased self-awareness and suggests a positive
outcome.
• Absolutely, any opportunity for personal expression can create a sense of
hope or alternative.
• Yes, it allows to personalise them showing that they have future dreams.
• Yes, if it is continued and not just a one off. Art and its effects take years to
manifest.
• Yes I do. I do also wish that people who have not offended get these
opportunities too. But by no means do I think these sorts of projects
should be stopped.
• Yes, because it helps them communicate – a type of dialogue with
outsiders. Also helps them deliver the four capacities of the curriculum for
excellence. Hopefully they become more responsible citizens in later life.
Any other comments?
• Would have been good to see more of the graphic art enlarged, the story
of King Dexter and the rat king, a powerful and shocking parable of anger
and alienation- a real story of the experience of many prisoners and a
refreshing change from our wished for tales of remorse and rehabilitation.
Confronting violence, the truth of it, is so vital.
• Gives prisoners a chance to reflect about themselves, their crime and offers
them a pleasurable release from prison life.
• I like that they are all different media and types of prisons. I love the
reflections on art that they did before creating their own.
• Art expressed in this way is a powerful healing medium for offenders and
gives the public an ‘insight’ into their world.
• Hope you get funding to carry on this innovative work.
33
Mirrors Prison Portraits Participants
Amanda
Claire
Victoria
Alana
Emma
Bobbi
Cheryl
Jenna
Nicola
Habiba
William
Thomas
James
Lewis
Gregg
John
Kris
Adam
Irving
Scott
Barry
Patrick
Lloyd
James
Ben
Davie
John
Gerry
Keiron
Willie
Jimmy
Ian
Gary
Cameron
Freddie
Uisdean
Allan
William
George
Alexander
Paul
Gary
David
Craig
John
Alex
David
DVD ON INSIDE BACK COVER >
Mirrors (Art Class), 2010
PAL 16:9 (Duration: 16'29")
Documentary film of the National Galleries of Scotland Outreach project
Mirrors: Prison Portraits directed by Lou McLoughlan
© Lou McLoughlan, NGS and Motherwell College 2011
The National Galleries of Scotland are grateful to all the staff and
managers in the Motherwell College Learning Centres in the five prisons
involved in the project. The artists and NGS outreach officers involved
in the project could not have achieved the results on display in this
publication without the commitment and support of those who deliver
education to offenders on an ongoing basis in Scottish prisons. We would
also like to offer thanks to all Scottish Prison Service managers and staff
who have aided us in the delivery of the project.
Design: Andy McGregor Design & Media (www.andymcgregor.com) | Printed by Allander (www.allander.com) on paper by GF Smith
34
CREDITS