downview prison mural

Emily Kaye with a group of eight women at HMP Downview Prison Segregation Yard with paint-splattered clothes standing in a circle with arms around each other, facing a colorful mural on a wall, with a barbed wire fence and rooftops in the background.

Sutton 2025

In 2025 I enrolled onto the London School of Muralism’s participatory mural painting course and together with other students we learned from Patricio Forrester and a host of other brilliant muralists all about the process of co-creation. I had the opportunity to join 4 other students to paint a mural along with prison residents at HMP Downview Prison, Sutton UK. Together we developed ideas for the mural concept. The mural was to be painted on the ‘seg yard’ walls. Green, hot metal! We painted soft lilac paper mountains, modifying the perspective and hopefully improving the experience of prison residents who use this space. Working in the prison had a profound effect on us all. The women we painted with were so optimistic and it was fantastic to see the benefits that painting had on them.

Woman painting a landscape on a colorful mural with a brush, showing mountains, sky, and water.
A person with long gray hair standing outdoors, facing a colorful mural of mountains painted on a wall, near a metal fence.
Emily Kaye stands in front of a colorful outdoor mural at HMP Downview Segregation Yard, waving a piece of cloth or fabric in the air.
Three people pushing a cart filled with boxes and supplies down a sidewalk, with barbed wire fencing and a building on the right side.