Incarcerated: Contemporary Arts from the Victorian Prison

Presented by the University of Birmingham and the University of Bath, in partnership with the Howard League for Penal Reform.

The exhibition of drawing, sculpture, crafts and writing by people serving time in HMP Liverpool and HMP Lincoln, as well as new photography from Andy Aitchison, and archival documents and interviews, will prompt conversations about living and working conditions in historical institutions today.

The exhibition at the MAC forms part of a research project, 'The Persistence of the Victorian Prison', which considers how the fabric and function of Victorian prisons have changed over time, and what it has felt like to live and work in Victorian prisons in the past and the present. It also explores what the persistence of the Victorian estate means for the contemporary prison system.

The project is led by the University of Birmingham’s Professor Dominique Moran, Professor Matt Houlbrook, Professor Yvonne Jewkes of the University of Bath, and Professor Jennifer Turner, of Trier University.