Follow Erika
Erika was sentenced for a non-violent crime for
which she served a number of years in custody. She wanted to document her
experience for posterity, the way that she chose to do this was to
produce an epic visual Postcard Diary that consists of at least 1400
drawings, at least one drawing every day from her time on bail prior to sentencing and also following her release.
This visual
diary gives a unique insight into the emotional and physical aspects of
her journey through being on Bail and then her time in HMP Holloway. Of
Particular interest is the fact that her time at HMP Holloway spanned
the historic announcement by the Government that the prison would be
closed and the site redeveloped into housing stock, meaning that there
would no longer be a Women’s Prison in central London. This whole period
is documented through Erika's Postcard Diary Drawings.
In order
to enable the viewer to experience this journey through Erika's eyes the
daily drawings are being published on her
Facebook page, Facebook group
and Instagram. Like Erika, join the group and follow the daily drawings
on
Postcardsfromprisondiary@instagram You can also follow Erika on
Twitter @ErikaPostcards, however as Twitter has a limited text field,
the story will be less detailed.
Erika started her Postcard Diary 3 months into her 6 month
period on bail. The drawings at first were an expression of feelings that she was going through, she
wanted to show the rollercoaster of emotions that she carried with her
as she approached the 'Day of Doom' when she would attend Crown court
and be shipped off to prison in the 'Sweat Box'!
Erika broke the Law. Her offence was a non-violent one, she
didn't hurt anyone or steal from anyone. She accepted that she had
committed a crime and would serve the sentence that courts imposed upon
her. There are many schools of thought as to whether it is appropriate
or not to punish with incarceration women who commit non-violent
offences as the repercussions on the immediate family and young children
can often be devastating.
Erika is really interested to hear your stories and opinions
on all areas of this subject matter and will be posting relevant stories
from contributors on her blog for this website. If you have something
that you would like to say please email
erika@recordedinart.com Please
state clearly if you are willing to have your story published or not.
All stories will be vetted first and published anonymously for
confidentiality reasons to protect the rights of the contributor, the
subject and particularly the rights of any victims of crime.
