Ikon Gallery on Westside is looking for a new artist in residence to continue its groundbreaking therapeutic work with a UK prison.
The post will be for the next two years, with the successful applicant to be based at HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire.
And, to help promote the success of the Art at HMP project, Ikon is currently staging an exhibition of artwork by prisoners at the gallery in Brindleyplace until 17 December.
Ikon’s current Artist in Residence at HMP Grendon is Dean Kelland, who took on the role in 2019.
Masks can be seen throughout Dean’s exhibition at Ikon, used as both a practical means to ensure anonymity for the participants, but also as a symbolic device.
This selection of artwork follows the theme of ‘masking’, some literally, others referencing therapeutic practices employed by the prison, which aim to transform patterns of prisoner behaviour.
Not only does the showcase feature artwork by inmates involved in the prison programme, but it has also been curated by a prisoner currently residing on HMP Grendon’s C wing resident.
The showcase has been organised to coincide with Dean’s own exhibition, entitled Imposter Syndrome, which is the culmination of his four-year artist’s residency at Grendon. The exhibition opened in September and continues until 22 December.
The Art at HMP Grendon programme has been running since 2010 with funding from the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust, resulting in major exhibitions at Ikon Gallery and the category B prison, described as the only wholly therapeutic prison in Europe.
Ikon opened a studio at the jail, which has 232 inmates, to provide a dedicated space for workshops, in printing and painting, and a changing programme of exhibitions. The focus is on the development of the prisoners’ artistic practice.
For further information about Ikon visit: https://www.ikon-gallery.org/
