Tales of Hope
Introduction
Nottingham’s National Justice Museum’s purpose is to inspire people of all ages to become active citizens. It houses a vast array of artefacts relating to the changing nature of criminal justice and prisons throughout history in the UK. It runs a number of activities, exhibitions and educational programmes relating to law and justice. Its spring exhibition in 2025 ‘Picture This: Hope’ was on the theme of ‘Hope’. We invited photographers from across the UK, whether professional or aspiring, to submit their black and white photographs that capture the essence of hope.
In addition to the photography theme, The National Justice Museum also collaborated with Novus to devise a project which combines reading, writing, discussion and artistic creativity to explore the theme of ‘hope’.
Novus aims to champion the value of arts and culture, with the ultimate goal of contributing to reduced reoffending. This project has highlighted the transformative role of the arts in rehabilitation, delivering meaningful creative opportunities that have supported prisoner learners with their personal development, helping to build their confidence.
As part of this particular project, we asked learners to consider:
• What symbolises hopes to them
• Whether they are inspired by nature’s resilience, acts of kindness, or the enduring human spirit
• Maybe they want to explore what personal hope means to them, or what it means to society as a whole.
• Whether it’s the small, everyday moments or grand visions of the future, we want to see their interpretation of hope.
We received many exceptionally creative designs and imaginative stories and all of them have been included in this Zine. Every participant should be proud of what you created. Thank you for your time and energy that you have given to this project.
Note: All words and work are learners’ own words.
HMP Wandsworth
A Ballot Box: Hope Tales
A ballot box is structured, secured, made to a postable size and it’s suitable for dropping in the ballot paper, during the conduct of electoral vote.
Meanwhile, some countries have added scan machine to enable electronic records of ballot paper, id cards and thumb print, this is to boost hope that election is free and fair.
As a rule, ballot box is used in collecting and stored ballot papers, before they are collated and counted.
Due to the fact that electoral voting exercise is a crucial norm in politics, ballot box gives hope as a standard way to collect ballot papers which aim at peacefully selecting a worthy candidate to public offices.
Furthermore, it helps to fulfil the fundamental right of electoral franchise. Franchise is the right to vote and to be voted for.
HMP Wandsworth
Hope and Will
Hope gave me joy at a time when positive events were very low in my life and positive feelings even lower.
For me, hope wasn’t a wish and a prayer for one desire nor outcome on a grandeur scale.
Happening in small intervals my hope wasn’t for one big final outcome but rather gave me small flickers of relief and success at one of my lowest moments of existing.
Without a home I hope for making it in time to the food bank, success the feeling of knowing how I’d cook the ingredients, I’m surprised I made it in time. Hoping a friend is home and able to have me for a while.
HMP Wandsworth
Untitled
I hope to do well here in Wandsworth Prison.
It’s my first time to be imprisoned everything here in Wandsworth is new to me, I’m still getting used to the prison system.
My first night was a nightmare, woken up to a new environment was difficult and depressing. My anxiety went through the roof with stress, worried, difficulties, feeling failure, bitter with myself.
Financial worries, danger and threat and looking for a job. My surroundings is violence particular here in prison, unemployment, self-harming, suicidal thoughts. Experiencing, temptation, broken hearted, blaming myself and coping, facing difficulties, feeling unwanted.
My hope now is to be a better person and aspiring to do well. I miss my kids not being able to see them like I used too and taking them out or going to the park, bowling, cinema, going out for visits or hanging out and at home with them. Even going out to eat or playing together, the most stressful thing was telling them I was locked up in prison, because pocket money for them had to stop and had to explain it to four of them. After my sisters and my kids been calling me for support for weeks before I finally contacted them it was really difficult for everyone and hard to deal with and still is now, on remand hope for the future and peace of mind. Terms with myself alcohol and smoking weed will be a thing of the past so help me God.
HMP Wandsworth
Love Conquers All
My tale of hope centres around a story told to me about love prevailing above all. My great grandmother was a slave on an island called Grenada. This story takes place on that small unknown island.
She had a privileged position as a house slave. So whilst still a slave she had many privileges not handed out to most slaves. She was educated as a child as her mother was the nanny to her owner’s kids and she went to class with those kids. Later on she then taught her owner’s kids and played an integral role in their upbringing.
Unknown to all she had a great secret. This only became apparent when she had her first child. The child was mixed race and from its features, obviously belonged to her master. It came out that she and the owner had fallen in love since they played together as children and had been having a relationship for many years.
Now it was not unheard of for owners to have sexual relationships…
HMP Wandsworth
The World Over the Wall
I imagine every day and evening, waiting for the time to come, thinking about crossing the wall to go home.
The world outside must be bustling, full of nature and freedom.
Everyone in this place wishes to be free.
To enjoy freedom and never come back to this place again.
HMP Thorn Cross
Hope for the Future
Happiness is the key
Opportunity moving forward
Pleasure making memories
Energy for positive thinking
FOR THE Family forever together
United to support
Trust each other
Unconditional love
Reassure one another
Eternity!
HMP Thorn Cross
Untitled 1
My story is all about hope. It’s about a man called Toby who once stumbled across a box with the words hope written on the front which also had a hole at the top of the box. So Toby decided to start posting notes into it that he was hoping for in life. These notes he had written are what he is wishing to achieve in life, like starting his own family, being healthy, and also live happily ever after. He then went on to share the box with his family. They all thought it was a really good idea so that they all decided to open up the box together where they found some really positive thoughts.
HMP Thorn Cross
Untitled 2
On the highway to ‘hope’ there is hope no matter what way you travel. No matter how long the journey is or how long the road is, you will always reach the destination of hope whether it be hope for your family, your friends, yourself, work, home life or your future. You just have to find the hope road and travel through the obstacles and bumps in the road until you reach the final destination.
HMP Thorn Cross
Untitled 3
My story of hope is like crossing a bridge, leaving the past under it to trickle away down stream and walking into the future not looking back. The bridge is a metaphor for building ties with my kids and people when I get out, as a bridge is a strong structure that weathers time.
HMP Berwyn
Gobaith
Hope changes from time to mind.
The future uncertain. I think you’ll find a job, a wife and a couple of kids. Then two lives collide, halting with a skid.
Sat in a cell lost in total despair in a world so alien, like a dragon’s lair. Doing the time because I did wrong. Accepting this made me strong.
Time has passed, my prison journey must end. Into my future this thought I send. In times of hardship my mind awoke. Where there is light there is always hope.
My idea behind this piece is to show that no matter what life throws at us, how bleak or blank our futures may look, by changing your mindset and highlighting the good in our lives hope will shine through.
HMP Berwyn
Untitled 1
My work is about hope.
I’ve done my work in a graphic context. I drew a boat crossing the sea. That story has been inspired from the story of Noah.
It’s about a man and his family. I’m the boat going through a big storm during the great flood. But he kept the faith and hope and over came at the end and the pain stopped, and a rainbow appears, a sign of a love between Noah and his God. The story is about hope, courage, faith and never give up.
HMP Berwyn
Untitled 2
We’re all sinners
We’re all in prison
The story of forgiveness is very relevant, therefore the past has passed.
Having a philosophical overview helps to accept life and melancholy depending on how many people have passed away we’re all just passing by.
Binary, multiple, options, taking turns, the tick-tock method.
Find hope in forgiveness
Find hope in philosophy
Find hope in time
HMP Berwyn
Where there is hope and light the darkness will never win
If a person has got hope in something or someone, it is like a small light in the darkness, which will always keep the darkness at bay. The darkness will never overcome the light – the hope - that a person has in life.
If a person has faith in his or her religion or God, they will always have hope in their hearts. That faith will always overcome the darkness, however dark it may be.
HMP Berwyn
The Stairs of Life
Everyone starts at a different starting point. Some have reached their goal and have the fight to keep going up, some have reached their goal but it wasn’t what they thought or expected and are on a new journey. Some start in the grave where some stay, others fight clawing their way from the grave to the stairs to start their journey to their goal.
It takes courage, discipline and realistic expectation to climb those stairs of life, with hope as the driving force to take one step at a time.
HMP Berwyn
Hope and Despair
Hope and despair are two sides of the same coin, with your expectation as the decider.
HMP Berwyn
Think
When I wake up I think about what type of day I am going to have, hope floods my mind, I hope I have a good day, I hope my friends and family achieve their dreams, I hope. I hope. I hope. I hope. Without hope there is no future, there is no direction, hope guides us towards a brighter tomorrow.
HMP Berwyn
Salvation Gives Hope
The start is we are at war with God because we are all sinners and God has to punish Sin. We act in ignorance and some people don’t know that Sin needs to be punished. So we’re at war and that war will always be unless we turn away from our old ways (sins) and come to knowledge that you’ve done wrong, confessing and accepting that you’ve done wrong, saying that your sorry and asking for forgiveness in (prayer). We need to turn the other way and repenting and trust and believing that Jesus freely died for us on the cross and accepting that he is our LORD and Saviour and thanking him for what he has done. The wrongs we do destroy our relationship with Him, which destroys our HOPE and creates a bad version of ourselves. By finding SALVATION, we receive the free gift of eternal life and our fullness of life. This then gives us HOPE for the future, which creates a good version of ourselves.
HMP Berwyn
Dream
I Dream-A-Dream as time goes by…
HMP Rye Hill
Untitled 1
I read a book called The Secret as the subject of the law of attraction has always fascinated me… My intrigue into this subject came from gambling (mainly roulette and poker). I started to notice on days when I was happy and positive, I would always win (like I couldn’t lose) and days I was negative, I would fill myself with doubt and constantly lose… I came to the conclusion that my mood was 100% having some effect in the outcome and universe around me… I learned to channel my energy to get results I desired in life.
The point of this story is that hope is more than just wanting something!
It is almost like a superpower, if used and channelled correctly, you can accomplish many things. With hope and the right amount of positivity behind it, even in the darkest of times, hope can provide the one little bit of light you need to be… even if its not where you necessarily want to be… the universe gives you hope to guide you to your required destination… so sometimes just relax, have faith and let hope guide the way, because with hope, there is faith, and with faith, there is hope… (That’s my general story of hope).
HMP Rye Hill
Untitled 2
I’ve never believed in hope throughout life. I’ve always thought that life is about making choice and then facing the outcomes, either positive or negative, and live with it. Whereas determination has played a big role in my life. Every time I wanted to achieve something in life, I was determined to do so. Since I read Sisyphus’s tale, I’ve changed my attitude towards hope. Was Sisyphus driven by hope or determination?
Sisyphus was convicted to repeat for eternity the same task of pushing a rock up the mountain just to see it going down the hill every time it reaches the top. During the first attempts, Sisyphus doubtless was hopeful to push the boulder towards the top of the mountain repeatedly without fail, just to realise that the task needed more than hope, so he became determined to push the boulder up the mountain. From being hopeful to come to be determined to carry out his punishment.
He was conscious of the two states of mind, hope and determination. The hopeful mind made him believe that he can make an end to his punishment by pushing the boulder up the mountain, when failing to do so, he was staring at the boulder rolling down the mountain, thinking that he needs more than hope. His physic turned to be fit for the purpose, and it was a personal matter for him to end the punishment, his actions were fuelled by his ego, and firmness to push till reaching the summit.
Hope was the source of the determination that kept him trying and longing to find the top of the mountain, without a glimpse of hope he wouldn’t persevere in his punishment. Where there is life, there is hope.
This is my story.
HMP Rye Hill
Hope
As a space-time traveller if relative duration on a planet earth bio-span. This I that is me has become aware of several changes of perspective over several decades.
This, ironically due to my species quite recent expansion in its comprehension of existence.
This quite a shock to many whose world view was impinged upon.
This may explain the dystopian world the third decade of the millennium of the current era has turned out to be.
So what about hope? Cest l’question? As they might say in Les Isles Anglo-Normand Where there is hope of revival of the language of William I
So what of hope?
From my observation it’s simply looking forward, both in our own time and beyond.
But what and where are Les Isle Anglo-Normand?
Ever watched Bergerac, the Guernsey detective?
Got it!
Well in Dad’s Army’s days things were not so funny in Les Isles. Even before the 1st July 1940, when all the islands youth were shipped off to England away from the Nazis and their Norman-French speaking families.
They came back in 1944 having lost or were ashamed of their mother tongue.
Now in the third decade of the third millennium there is hope in the air in Les Isles Anglo-Normand, and when I get out I want to delve into the culture of this, once, almost lost world.
HMP Rye Hill
Untitled 3
Hope is all around us, we hope this, we hope that, but we hope it never happens to us.
The big ‘C’ the silent assassin, we hope we never get it, but I have, so what next.
Hopelessness rears its ugly head, that feeling of despair, the loneliness, the isolation.
Hang on is that light at the end of the tunnel? Because where there’s hope there is a chance and that means a possibility its not all doom and gloom.
With the treatment comes the pain. I’ll get through it because we get hope and there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
HMP Rye Hill
Untitled 4
Hope sees me buckle and bend, but it makes sure I never break.
It never promises to prevent my pain, but it’s the warm hug that softens the sting.
Hope keeps me determined. Like the salmon that swims up stream.
It’s the rock whose shade I rest in, when life gets exhausting.
Hope warns me of the icebergs, and navigates me safely around.
It keeps me standing tall, and lightens the chains that keep me bound.
Hope holds a mirror to the world, when the world is busy pulling me down.
It keeps me reaching for my dreams, when at times I feel unseen.
Hope is strength, and the belief that things will work out.
It tells the broken hearted, that there is still love to find.
To have hope, is to be human.
To be hopeful is to be brave.
HMP Hindley
Untitled 1
For me hope is being able to see light at the end of the tunnel. Without that it would be hard to achieve anything, but I think if you set yourself little goals along the way it can help you towards your end goal.
If your doing a prison sentence for example, try not to think about the sentence as a whole but maybe take it a day, a week or a month at a time. Think about doing education or work, it’s important to keep your mind active to get you through your time and hopefully you will see the end within time.
The target at the end of my tunnel is seeing my children again which fills me with much hope and happiness. But it is important to find your own hope at the end of the tunnel and work towards that.
HMP Hindley
Untitled 2
When I was a boy, I had endless amounts of hope but it’s easy to lose it when nothing ever changes. You can hope that things will get better when in fact it only gets worse. From a broken home, to being on the streets and seeing nothing but pain and tortured souls. Wouldn’t you lose hope?
Always being told you’re a disgrace or a mistake that’s never gonna amount to anything in life. So when you’re out you think you’ve found a group of people you can call family but really they are using you.
Now, in the future, I will never want my children to live in a broken home. I just hope who ever their mother is, will want to be with me, just as much as I will want to be with them. Not just for the sake of the kids but because its true love.
HMP Hindley
The Life of Hoping
Today I am writing about hope because if you did not have hope you will not get where you want to be in life.
I pray to God everyday for hope. It gives me something to think about. I hope everyone is well.
We all hope for something in life, like to be at home or to be a good person.
I hope to see my kids soon that is what I hope for.
HMP Hindley
God
God gives me hope and a purpose in life. Since becoming a born again Christian, I’ve found I look at life differently.
I think having hope is a beautiful thing and keeps a pure mind.
Having hope can help with mental health, and give you another way of coping, with life’s challenges.
I think we’ll all benefit from having a little hope, and peace in our lives. May God be with you, and good luck I wish happiness in your future life.
HMP Hindley
Turning Over An Old Leaf
Hope is something I always seem to misunderstand. I feel hope for everybody else. But never myself. Most of all I hope for my son, even though he doesn’t need it. Hope always seems to be one step away never seeing the end goal.
Here’s to living hope.
God I hope my son doesn’t turn out like me!
HMP Hindley
The Hope to Live Free
Back in the day, when I used to live in Dublin in a huge complex full of tower blocks each tower three stories high and about six blocks, there were around three hundred flats in total. The complex was a rough place for a young lad to grow up, most of the lads that grew up there either end up on hard drugs or selling them. We looked up to the older lads on the end of the block and we all wanted to be like them with flashy cars, watches and clothes.
There wasn’t much hope for a normal life as the place was like a concrete jungle. Most people just wanted to get away but couldn’t. At least I had hope that one day I would leave the place and never go back. I wanted to be free like a bird flying through the sky and go wherever I wanted to go, but I know you can be as free as fish swimming through the ocean there are always sharks lurking around to pull you down.
A selection of photographs from the ‘Picture This: Hope’ exhibition at the National Justice Museum. We invited photographers from across the UK, whether professional or aspiring, to submit their black and white photographs that captured the essence of hope.
National Justice Museum
High Pavement, Nottingham NG1 1HN