Professor David Gurnham Participates in Poetry from Prisons Public Engagement Event

On Fri 12th January 2024, David Gurnham (School of Law, Centre for Justice Studies) presented and discussed his research on poetry from prisons with a group of blind and partially sighted visitors to the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton.

This was part of an event led by mixed-media artist and art educator Jo Bressloff, who led the party on a ‘touch tour’ of the Koestler Arts exhibition ‘Standing on the Edge’ (Oct 2023 – Jan 2024) co-curated by prisoners at HM Prison Isle of Wight and comprising artworks produced by prisoners in the region. David read a number of poems from the Koestler Voices anthologies and talked about how they address themes and issues relating to criminal justice and the experience of imprisonment. The event represents part of a wider knowledge exchange, public engagement and research project co-ordinated by David alongside fellow Law School scholar and poet Dr Haris Psarras on marginalised people’s creative responses to justice problems (kindly funded in 2024 by the Southampton Institute of Arts and the Humanities).