Month by Month: Two art shows, 750 miles apart

Pictora are thrilled to again be featured in InsideTime, with an article written by Rachel Bellingham.  InsideTime is the national newspaper for prisoners.

The article highlights two art exhibitions, 750 miles apart.  The July 2026 Pictora Made Visible prison art exhibition in Dornoch Cathedral and HM Prison La Moye on the island of Jersey.

Rachel continues, saying "Under the descriptive name ‘Made Visible’, a prison art exhibition featured work from HMP Inverness, HMP Castle Huntly and HMP Low Moss. Together they created an impressive display in the great Dornoch Cathedral, in the Scottish Highlands. It is the second time the cathedral has hosted the event, which was held from July into August and organised by the Dornoch-based social enterprise Pictora.

Both these 2026 exhibitions, and all those around the prison estate, are recognition of the difference that art can make to the lives of men shut out from ordinary life and looking for ways to go forward to a better future. Art is no easy option. It needs concentration, patience and imagination. Just as important is the ability to recognise and accept when something’s not working and learn from it. A good teacher can make all the difference, even if much of the actual art, these days is created inside a cell. Fellow artists often help, encouraging determination with understanding. Sharing is part of the process.

Let the great Spanish painter Pablo Picasso have the last words: “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

Rachel Bellingham part of the InsideTime editorial team and is also a trustee of the Longford Trust, set up in memory of her father Lord Longford, to help penal and social reform,www.longfordtrust.org and a trustee of Siobhan Dowd Trust which aims to bring books and reading to disadvantaged children.

You can read the InsideTime article in full by clicking here: https://insidetime.org/comment/month-by-month-two-art-shows-750-miles-apart/