Artist-in-residence Hafsah Nibe and Sarah Hartley from Novus, who provide learning, skills and opportunity for those in custodial settings to help them build positive futures, discuss Open Eye Gallery’s pilot prison photography programme, reaching incarcerated people and their families using photography as a communicative tool. Run in partnership with Novus and HMP Risley, the programme explored how photography and creativity can be used as a tool for self-expression as well as learning new skills to aid rehabilitation.

At the beginning of the project, we hosted Open Rooms #2: Separated Together which explored the ethics, limitations and logistics of embarking on a photography project within prison settings. In this follow up event, Hafsah and Sarah will reflect on the project and the adaptations in creative practice and facilitation that had to be made due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Panellists

Hafsah Naib is a visual artist; filmmaker and writer based in Manchester originally from a biomedical science and fine art background. She is the founder and director of Working Class Film School; a youth filmmaking project currently working with partners and communities in Wales, Nepal and Hong Kong. Hafsah also teaches on the Self-Shooting Documentary course at the National Film and Television School.

Sarah Hartley is a creative producer, whose personal practice spans a range of media, including visual arts, textiles and graphics. She works at the intersection of art, education and the criminal justice system and firmly believes in the role creativity has to play in enabling positive change and shaping a rehabilitative culture. For the last 15 years Sarah has worked for Novus, who deliver education, training and employment opportunities for adults and young people in custody and the community, and is currently Lead for Creative Art, Enrichment and Families. She formulates creative enrichment opportunities to span across all curriculum areas, bringing a new dynamic to the classroom through projects that empower learners to shape their experiences and develop their skills. Sarah’s current interest is working to demonstrate the impact that creative practice has on reducing reoffending and to sustain the methodology.

Emma Case is a visual artist and creative producer working with communities, focusing on themes around nostalgia, archives and the everyday. She is currently Artist in Residence at Open Eye Gallery working with Clickmoor, a process-led photography group based in North Liverpool. Emma also runs The RED Archive, a community project collecting and sharing Liverpool fans’ personal photos and stories. Emma is Social Practice Producer at Open Eye Gallery. Supporting our socially engaged programme, working with communities and partners across Liverpool and the City region.

Novus delivers education, training, enrichment, employment and support services for adults and young people in custody through to the community in England and Wales. For almost 30 years they have been helping men, women and children of all ages and abilities, in custodial and community settings, to take new directions, by providing them with the learning, skills and opportunity needed to build positive futures for themselves, their families, and our communities. They work together with our public, community and employer partners towards shared aims, helping individuals turn their lives around. They are part of LTE Group, a UK social enterprise dedicated to improving lives and economic success through learning and skills. The Group is made up of five specialist organisations – The Manchester College, UCEN Manchester, Novus, MOL and Total People – all with a shared mission and values.