Freedom and Expression

What does it mean to produce and engage with art made under constraint, for both artists and their audiences? What factors are entailed in fostering and programming such art? This symposium explores these issues by focusing on creative practice by people whose lives are unfree in various ways because they are in jail, socially ostracized, politically oppressed or have their human rights otherwise curtailed. It aims to raise awareness of their work and the activities of organizations committed
to the use of art in such circumstances.

Confirmed speakers include:

Jo Glanville (Director, English PEN), Sheila Hayman (Freedom from Torture), Hamid Ismailov (Novelist, poet and the BBC World Service’s first writer in residence), Obinna Nwosu (Safe Ground), Lucy Popescu (Writer and critic on literature, theatre and human rights) and Dr Ahmed Shaheed (UN Special Rapporteur on Iran and Lecturer in the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex).

Image: 'Zimbabwe Teapot' © Hasani