Waiting ‘til next year for another year shares artwork made by three artists – Niki Gandy, Simon J. Harris and Jessica Ostrowicz – working in three prisons which comprise Ikon’s Art in Prisons programme.

Following the Art in Prisons showcase (2023) of prisoner artists’ work (also curated by a prisoner at HMP Grendon), this showcase reveals the breadth of artistic practice being explored across the programme by artists part way through their respective residencies.

Interdisciplinary artist and doctoral researcher Niki Gandy shares recent works made at HMP Birmingham. Gandy used handmade pin-hole cameras to capture a sequence of images on 35mm celluloid film depicting G wing, the only currently active part of the prison’s Victorian jailhouse. The resulting photographs are presented here in three forms: a large-scale vinyl wallpaper, a pair of framed prints and as a long scroll of thermal paper. The latter continues to expose as it reacts with heat and light.

Simon J. Harris reveals the landscape adjacent to HMP Grendon’s art studio as a rainbow appears on the horizon, presented here in a lightbox. Harris is principally a painter yet often utilises analogue film and photography as a means to develop his work. Harris’ residency concludes in 2026 with an exhibition including a large-scale oil painting, also depicting the landscape of the prison, titled The Weight of a Cloud.

After more than a decade exploring repetition, ritual and inherited trauma, over the past three years Jessica Ostrowicz has focused on the idea of home. This includes investigating what home means for people who are incarcerated, and the role a cell can play as a site for developing and performing homeliness. Here, Ostrowicz shares three works including Waiting Writings (2024-25), texts that are an amalgamation of truths drawn from conversations with prisoners and the artist’s own thoughts.

Ikon’s Art in Prisons programme places artist residencies in three prisons: HMP Grendon and HMP Spring Hill in Buckinghamshire, and HMP Birmingham. Each residency shares the core belief that art practice can be a force for good in carceral settings. The residencies are based on the same concept: the prison art school. Developed at HMP Grendon, the programme involves prisoners taking part in weekly workshops led by an Artist in Residence, during which they learn and develop new creative and technical skills. There is no formal curriculum for participation, but rather an ethos of learning. Each residency results in new artwork for display in prisons and at Ikon.

Niki Gandy’s residency at HMP Birmingham is funded by Birmingham City Council, the W.A. Cadbury Charitable Trust and the 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust. Simon J. Harris’ residency at HMP Grendon is funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust. Jessica Ostrowicz’s residency at HMP Spring Hill is funded by the Rothschild Foundation.