This year’s curators hope visitors will reconsider what it means to have a parent in prison, while also recognising that people in criminal justice settings are not defined solely by their circumstances or their sentence. The exhibition highlights the complexity of individual experiences, revealing stories of creativity, imagination, humour, vulnerability and hope.
The Parental Imprisonment Collective said: “We’ve come together to curate an exhibition that charts a journey of life from childhood onwards, and the different paths a life can take. We hope we’ve interpreted the work in a way the artists themselves would recognise.”
“When people go through the exhibition, we want them to think differently about what it means to grow up with a parent in prison. We also want visitors to remember that everybody in prison was once a child too. They are not just the sum of their sentence.”
Estimates suggest around 193,000 children in England and Wales had a parent in prison in a given year. Based on average primary class sizes, this is roughly equivalent to one child in every two primary school classes. Many people are likely to know a child affected by imprisonment, even if they are unaware of it.
The exhibition takes its title – Rock, Paper, Scissors – from the familiar game of chance, choice and consequence. The title reflects themes that emerged during PIC’s selection: the randomness and contingency of life, and the ways circumstance, timing, pressure and decision-making can intersect. It also evokes the wide range of materials and objects used by Koestler Awards entrants, from paper, textile and paint to sculpture, craft, found materials, music and writing.
Return of the Mack Back in the Can, HM Prison & Young Offender Institution Prescoed, Matchstick Model, 2026
In selecting artworks, PIC worked without any information about the artists or their circumstances, responding only to the work in front of them. Their selection moves through themes including childhood, family, home, confinement, imagination and landscape, highlighting the complexity of individual experience rather than offering a single story about imprisonment. The exhibition brings together creativity, humour, vulnerability and hope, and invites visitors to consider the different paths a life can take from childhood onwards.
The exhibition will feature work across painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, music, writing, craft and design, showcasing the extraordinary range of creativity entered into the 2026 Koestler Awards. The Awards are judged each year by artists, creative experts, and professionals – this year’s Awards were judged by the likes of musicians Hot Chip, artists Bob and Roberta Smith and Phoebe Boswell, Tate curator Helen O’Malley, and Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels and the UK’s first ever Prison Reading Laureate.
Alongside the exhibition, Koestler Arts and the Southbank Centre will present a programme of events exploring creativity, connection and the role of the arts in criminal justice settings. Visitors will be invited to respond directly to works on display, with feedback messages shared with the artists.
A programme of events and activities around the exhibition will include Words In, Words Out, part of London Literature Festival and in association with Service95 Book Club, reflecting on the power of literature, reading, and writing in Britain’s criminal justice system. Some artworks from the exhibition will be available to buy through the Koestler Arts website with donations to Victim Support.
Fiona Curran, Chief Executive of Koestler Arts, said: “We are delighted to present this remarkable exhibition, so thoughtfully curated by the Parental Imprisonment Collective in a new space at the Southbank Centre. The young adults worked together to select works that resonated with them from thousands of artworks created in secure settings across the UK — pieces that moved, surprised and inspired them. Together, these works offer a powerful insight into the experiences of those left behind when a parent or carer is in prison, while also exploring the universal themes of family, belonging, resilience and the unexpected paths that shape our lives.”
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre, said: “Supporting and celebrating young artists, producers, and curators – who in the years ahead will define our understanding of the world through their art and culture – is a central tenet of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary, and of our ambition to be the Arts Centre of the Future. As debates rage about the state of our prisons and the growing prison population, this year’s Koestler Arts exhibition centres those who serve a different type of sentence through the curation of the Parental Imprisonment Collective, a group of young people with lived experience of parental imprisonment. Their show, exhibited in our newly refurbished Undercroft space, centres their voices and stories and offers an important discourse on imprisonment, arts and wellbeing.”
