Member Article

Beyond the Borders at Hexham Old Gaol

Inmates help to bring to life stories of prisoners of the past

A brand new installation entitled Beyond the Borders opens at Hexham Old Gaol on Saturday 28 November, 2015. Beyond the Borders will use the latest in digital technology to bring visitors face-to-face with prisoners who lived many centuries ago.

Organisers of the project have worked with present-day inmates at HMP Durham, HMP Frankland and HMP YOI Low Newton prisons to bring to life the real stories of the prisoners of the past.

Beyond the Borders opens to the public on concerns the history of England’s oldest purpose-built prison between the late 13th and the early 17th centuries, focusing particularly on the Border Reivers who were active in the region during this period.

The project employs virtual reality technology at its most innovative creating new experiences and revealing new stories within the Gaol. Hand-held tablet computers will provide visitors with windows onto the past. Once aligned with a particular feature within Hexham Old Gaol, such as a piece of furniture or a wall, they will be triggered to playback audio-visuals that create the illusion of looking at the same scene as it existed many centuries ago, with computer animations of real former inmates narrating their stories.

The aim of this heritage learning project was to give present-day prisoners in North-East prisons the opportunity to explore regional history, learn heritage techniques as well as encourage them to think about and use their own experiences in prison to develop the narratives of the real-life characters featured within the installation.

The creative team behind the project have a diverse skill set that spans interaction and product design, animation, creative writing and North East history. A unique collaboration brought together by Dilly Arts to realise an ambitious, deeply participatory initiative that bridges the past and present.

The installation is a collaboration between Dilly Arts, Arcus Studios and Attaya Projects with support from Hexham Gaol and expert input of historians John Sadler, a leading academic authority on the Border Reivers who is an author and lecturer at Newcastle University, and Maureen Meikle, Professor of Early Modern History at Leeds Trinity University. Suzy O’hara who has delivered arts and technology projects across the North East region including Thinking Digital Arts is curating the project.

Alison Redshaw Boxwell, who founded Dilly Arts in 2011 in the Northumberland village of Allendale, masterminded and is managing the project. Dilly Arts is the only arts development organisation in the North East specialising in delivering arts in prisons. This project follows the huge on-going success of the company’s Key Change production from a project Dilly Arts devised and managed in 2014 which Open Clasp Theatre Company will be taking to New York in the new year.

Says Alison Redshaw-Boxwell:

“Living in the Hexham area I was fascinated to learn that Hexham Old Gaol was the first purpose built prison in England. Since Dilly Arts specialises in delivering high quality and challenging projects working with prisoners and their families, it was only natural for me to bring the two together. The prisoner-participants were able to bring their unique experiences to the project in empathising with the characters held in Hexham Old Gaol in the past. For example one inmate in HMP Frankland explained to me how he can smell the weather when visitors are present.

The prisoner-participants gave huge commitment to the project from learning about the vast history of the Border Rievers to working with artists to bring the characters to life, throughout the project they learned and enhanced vital skills such as numeracy and literacy in addition to learning new heritage skills. We’re really proud that their work and dedication is now captured for all to see - and learn from - in this exhibition.“

Alison is a former Director of Durham City Arts (2006-2011 and previously was Strategic Arts and Creativity Manager for Sunderland City Council (2003-2006). She has been working within prisons for over eight years, including HMP Frankland, HMP Durham and Low Newton Young Offenders’ Institute.

At least 12 inmates from each of these prisons will work on the project, with the aim of providing the prisoners and their families with perhaps their first experience of the heritage of the region, as well as allowing the inmates to develop a variety of new skills.

Another central objective of the initiative is to put Hexham Old Gaol firmly back on the North East’s tourist map as a modern, engaging and exciting heritage facility.

Education is another vital component of the project and local school groups will be invited to Hexham Old Gaol for half-day sessions.

Additionally, all the project information will be available on a website, with a Moodle resource, compiled especially for this initiative which the public and teachers can access for more information and research.

For further information about the project, or school group visits please go to www.beyondtheborders.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nicky Mckeen .