Summer Painting Classes

Three Monday afternoons, May 9th, June 13th and July 11th, from 1.00p.m. to 3.00 p.m. at St Martins House, 7 Peacock Lane (near the Cathedral) Leicester, LE1 5PZ.

Artist: Ali Agayev
Contact Number: 07529 502099
Web: www.artistagayev.webs.com
Email: [email protected]

The classes are FREE for asylum seekers and refugees. If there are spare places, others may join at a cost of £3.00 per class towards materials.

Each class will be limited to 10 students. If the class is full you can be added to a waiting list and will be notified of the next available class.

If you have booked all three classes and are unable to attend a particular class please call Ali Agayev, if possible with 48 hours notice, since there are usually other people on the waiting list.

Painting materials will be provided for use in the classroom, but you are welcome to bring your own tools if you wish. You will complete a finished canvas painting in each session, with step-by-step guidance from Artist Agayev, and take home a masterpiece! If you wish, bring a snack to enjoy during the 1/2 hour break.

Registration information (These details will be kept private and used only for future painting class announcements.)

Full name:______________________________________________
Address:_______________________________________________
Telephone number:_______________________________________
E-mail:_________________________________________________

Call Bessie Hayes 0116 2418747 or e-mail [email protected] to see if a place is available, and give the above information.

Inspired art by detained people

By Harmit Athwal

The latest Koestler Trust exhibition of ‘offender’ art is currently on show at the Royal Festival hall, Southbank in London.

Approximately 150 pieces of art created by those held at prisons, removal centres, young offenders’ institutes and secure mental hospitals in the UK and people in contact with the probation service, are being exhibited until 14 November 2010.

Victims of crime curated the exhibition for the first time in its forty-nine year history. The art was innovative and inspiring – from pottery, ceramics, needle work to painting, sculpture and ‘matchstick’ art – the whole gamut. Those denied their everyday freedoms (and more) have created unusual and beautiful works of art, the loss of liberty provoking, sometimes, profound expressions of freedom.

Denies Rhodes, one of the curators spoke to IRR News about the curating process: ‘I realised that there are no “wrong” reasons to choose a piece of work and that the only true criteria are if it speaks to you in some way and moves you. I was blown away by the sheer volume of work, every surface, every wall [of the Koestler Arts Centre at Wormwood Scrubs] was covered with work from prisons and detention centres all over the UK – over 5,000 pieces in every medium imaginable and some you’d never even think of – blankets, sheets, sweat shirts have all been used by artists – possibly because they lack any other or because they are an integral part of the art. I know it will be an amazing show, because the work of the artists almost guarantees it, but I hope our selection and the reasons we chose it make it just a little more special. I know first hand that creative arts can be a life saver and I’m sure they go a long way to preventing re-offending.’

Numerous artworks caught my eye – from the dress made of ’screws’, the beautiful but useless teapot and Conopoly – a creative and wry take on the popular board game. Another piece, created from matches, was a waltzer, from the fairground, created in its entirety – not just one of the cars but the whole ride, and all from matches! The amount of thought and work that must have gone into that one piece was astonishing.

One of the most extraordinary paintings was a portrait of detainees and staff at Oakington removal centre, where people who have committed no crime are held. The portrait, ‘Diversity of Hope’, was a little haunting, with the detainees and guards ‘jumping’ from the canvas, they were so lifelike. I could only imagine how long it had taken to draw and paint. Were these people still here in the UK, or have the artist and his sitters been deported?

Another interesting aspect of the exhibition is that it although it is mainly sponsored and funded by the Co-operative Foundation, ironically additional supporters included Kalyx and G4S. These are two private (for profit) companies that run prisons, immigration removal centres and escorting services across the UK. These companies have probably paid many times more in fines for failures in their contracts with the Home Office than they give to charities such as the Koestler Trust – Kalyx was fined £5 million in 2006 for unspecified performance failures. And a G4S spokesperson told a select committee in 2006 of at least £100,000 fines the year before – surely it must be PR for these companies that want to show a kind and ‘fluffy’ side? And it should also be noted that G4S guards were recently responsible for a deportation in which an Angolan man, Jimmy Mubenga, died at Heathrow airport.

Source: Institute of Race Relations

Freedom to Create Prize announces finalists

The shortlist for the 2009 Freedom to Create Prize has been announced. Winners for the Main, Youth and Imprisoned Artist Prize categories will be unveiled at an awards ceremony to be held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, on 25 November 2009.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the celebrated filmmaker and official overseas spokesman for 2009 Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, is today revealed as one of the shortlisted finalists for the 2009 Freedom to Create Prize. He joins Western Saharan singer Aziza Brahim, imprisoned Burmese poet Saw Wei and Afghani installation artist Sheenkai Alam Stanikzai and other artists from around the globe shortlisted for the award, which carries US$125,000 in prize money.

Freedom to Create Prize founder Richard Chandler praised the bravery of this year’s 1,015 artists from 110 countries who entered the prize.

“The Freedom to Create Prize is the only award of its kind in the world. It celebrates the power of art to fight oppression, break down stereotypes and build trust in societies where the social fabric has been ripped apart by conflict, violence and misunderstanding,” said Mr Chandler. “Of most importance, the Prize also celebrates the bravery of artists who pursue their craft despite great danger to themselves.”

It will be judged by a panel of high profile artists, opinion formers, and human rights experts: Leading international human rights lawyer and jurist on the UN’s Internal Justice Council Geoffrey Robertson QC; composer and founder of West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Daniel Barenboim; co-founder, along with Koffi Annan, of global diplomatic group, The Elders, and founder of Indian women and micro-finance movements Dr Ela Bhatt; BBC arts correspondent Razia Iqbal; Time Out founder and chair of Human Rights Watch Tony Elliot; award-winning Anglo-Indian artist Sacha Jafri; New York-based arts lawyer Peter Stern; artist and philanthropist Ana Tzarev; and Zimbabwean playwright Cont Mhlanga, winner of the inaugural Freedom to Create Prize in 2008.

Freedom to Create is an initiative that seeks to improve lives by addressing society’s ability to support and sustain creativity. The initiative focuses on those societies in greatest need.

For more information please visit: www.freedomtocreateprize.com

For all media enquiries, images, full artist biographies, please contact:

Lisa Baker and Will Paget
PagetBaker Associates
Email:  [email protected]
[email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)207 323 6963

An invitation for contributions

By Elisha Shamba

Our inner strengths, experiences, and truths cannot be lost, destroyed, or taken away. Every person has an inborn worth and can contribute to the human community.
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