Behind Bars
Tutor Hilary Beachamp has a new show of collaborative work opening this week and the One And A Half Gallery in North London. In this collaborative project, she has worked with John Dawson whose finely thrown porcelain forms are decorated with her paintings and drawings. The pieces draw from their first hand experiences whilst teaching at HMP Holloway in North London. The works provide a moving insight into the inmates’ activities and bridge the gap between craftsmanship and fine art. Each object makes a powerful, dark, yet sometimes humorous statement about the realities of life inside the women’s prison, which paradoxically is both a household name and remains opaque to the outside world. There is a unsettling and powerful tension in the contrast between the delicate ceramics and the unashamedly brash and shocking drawings. The show also includes a selection of Hilary’s original works on paper.