The Prison Mobile Library

The Prison Mobile Library is a participatory project produced by IC Visual Lab that brings together writing and photography created by people in prison, reflecting on life before, during and after incarceration. Through creative workshops, participants explore their experiences, memories and hopes for the future, creating original work to be shared with others across the prison system.

Within prison, there are limited opportunities to collectively reflect on personal experiences and the journeys that have led to incarceration. The project creates a space for shared reflection and learning, using photography and writing to open conversations, build trust and break down barriers.

The workshops encourage participants to consider the events, relationships and patterns that have shaped their lives, while developing greater self-awareness and understanding of their own journeys. Through making and sharing, they can revisit their personal stories and consider how they might be understood differently.

The resulting works form a unique library authored by people with first-hand experience of imprisonment—an archive of personal voices and lived experience. Rather than defining people solely through incarceration, the project creates space for more complex narratives to emerge, exploring how creative practice can support reflection, connection and transformation.

The exhibition presents a selection of publications from the library alongside material documenting the creative process undertaken during the workshops.

This project has been supported by Weston College, John James Bristol Foundation, and the Van Neste Foundation.

Biography

IC Visual Lab (ICVL) is a Bristol-based independent arts organisation working across photography, film, visual archives, and education. Founded to create new ways of producing, sharing and understanding visual culture, ICVL brings together artists, communities, researchers and cultural organisations through exhibitions, commissions, participatory projects and alternative forms of learning.

Its work focuses on making visual culture more accessible, collaborative and socially engaged, with a particular interest in underrepresented stories, archives and communities. Through long-term partnerships and experimental approaches to cultural production, ICVL aims to democratise who gets to make, shape and preserve culture.

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