In a prison where people are in constant flux, many on remand, moved or replaced before they can settle, Prison Cairnoffers a rare moment of permanence. It stands as a fixture of stability in an otherwise transient space, a quiet testimony to those who pass through. The prison art studio, too, becomes an axis point, a place where lives momentarily intersect before disappearing again into the system. Here, art marks presence, resisting the erasure of displacement. Like a cairn, traditionally built to guide travellers or honour those who have passed, this structure holds space for those who have disappeared into the prison system.

Prison Cairn is an evolving monument to fleeting presence. Every folded photocopy acts as a placeholder for a prisoner who has passed through the art studio. Together they become an assembly of incarcerated lives.

Documentation: Alicja Kielan courtesy of Galerie Op Enheim