This autumn, Koestler Arts returns to the Southbank Centre with its annual exhibition celebrating the creativity, talent and imagination of people in criminal justice settings. Rock, Paper, Scissors opens on 16 October in the Undercroft and presents artworks submitted to the 2026 Koestler Awards, the UK’s longest-running national arts awards programme for work made in prisons, secure hospitals, young offender institutions and by people on probation.
For the first time in the show’s history, the artworks have been selected by members of the Parental Imprisonment Collective (PIC), a group of young adults with experience of a parent in prison during childhood. PIC are supported by Young Ambassadors from Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT), a leading charity working with children and families affected by parental imprisonment. Bringing together five different perspectives, the curators have created an exhibition that invites audiences to look beyond assumptions about imprisonment and consider the complex human stories behind the artworks.