Responses from Leicester Prison

‘WHAT DOES CREATIVITY MEAN TO YOU?’

A conversation at HMP Leicester

With thanks to the men at HMP Leicester for their honestly and trust.

Extracts from conversations with Andrea Hadley-Johnson exploring what creativity means to them.

What does creativity mean to you?

Drawing & making gives different views & different aspects to my life It’s about passing it on It symbolises me – beauty, quality, strong It’s a reflection of my inner self Creativity is taking from the inside and making something visible, giving it a new meaning through drawing Expressing myself in my own way Something unique and classy Life in its own essence Inspiration Whatever you want to make, make it. Don’t over think it Colours and pencils Creativity has helped get me through last 13 years Thoughts of your mind Progression, I’m on level 1 and am going to go up to level 12 skills Making something out of nothing Practicing my craft Creativity is freedom Creativity is about making something once, unique and not reproducing Doing something at your own pace

In what way does creating art enhance your life?

Art makes me see and think differently Making enhances my creativity and my life I write poems to articulate my feelings – the ones I can’t say Art helps me reflect on where I’ve gone wrong in my life I can put my feelings down in ways that I wouldn’t be able to say Creativity with words helps me to say things I can’t say out loud I’ve been here for two years and feel that I’ve just got to acquire things so that I can create art in my cell. I sell what I make to the other men who give them as gifts. I make one, get it right and then repeat, like a factory. (this man crafted intricate flowers from wood and found material. He asked permission to collect one from his cell to show me. As he left he shouted back “ if anyone needs a hair cut I’m a barber too”. )

What feelings do you experience when you’re making art?

I have different feelings at different stages of making If I can picture it I can do it, I feel powerful I feel full of love – love has gone into everything that I create I find the production stage of art exciting Excitement Satisfaction Free Resourceful I feel alive Fear, I might find myself if I look too hard I feel focused. I can go through 10 fruit crates to get exactly the right pieces that I need to create a new box. I know what I’m looking for. I can picture what I’m going to make. (this man and another met for the first time in the library during our conversation, they swapped cell numbers at the end. One soaked slats from crates from the prison kitchen and dried the wood flat, the other chose wood that was perfect before starting. They swapped tips) Art can help me understand my feelings of confusion and anger, society sees me in a certain way and it conflicts with who I really am.

I feel lost, I’ll be in prison for another 20 years. I want to learn how to draw, I’ve never drawn before. I’ll look at books to learn how to, and I’ll draw my story. I’ll draw the essence of what’s inside me. It will be the biggest drawing ever. Then someone can see the picture and tell me who I am so I can understand who I am. I feel lost. I’l take out my whole story and make it visible, BIG (this man watched and listened for a while, then stepped forward to start speaking. Each part of the text above was spoken, he then left, paused and came back to say more. He moved from no eye contact to eye contact as he continued to share his thoughts) Pride, I carve things into soap and give them to people as a gift. (this man asked if he could go and collect something from his cell for me to see. He returned with something, help kept it behind his back and said he didn’t want me to be offended. It was a beautifully carved hand with one finger up. I said ‘you’re an artist, people find hands really to challenging daw or sculpt. He said “nah! I look at my hands all the time, I know them inside out, what else have I got? They’re easy, this is a perfect copy of my right hand)