Bedroom or Cell?

Grace, Age 15

  • Painting
  • Oil and acrylic paint on canvas
  • A1 portrait

When I was 11 years old my dad was sent to prison, and I became the 'prisoner by default'. When somebody goes to prison, no one really accounts for the people left behind, the ones 'in front of the bars', and in fact, these people are affected just as much as the person inside. I felt the need to use my creativity to express this, considering art is what got me through the worst of it. My oil paintings entail the irony of the child becoming the prisoner themselves. The composition is a young girl in her bedroom, yet on the walls, there are tallies and writing as if it was a prison cell. The letters written on the wall were based on real ones I had written to my dad whilst he was in prison, explaining how I felt as he couldn't witness many of my milestones.