Koestler Arts and the Old Fire Station present Through the Blue, an exhibition showcasing artwork, music and writing made in criminal justice settings in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.

Koestler Arts is an arts charity that works with every prison in the UK to unlock hope, talent and potential. Each piece in the exhibition has been made by someone in a prison, secure hospital, young offender institution or on probation in the region and entered into the 2025 Koestler Awards.

The exhibition has been co-curated by a group of people on probation in Oxford and Reading, who considered more than 600 Koestler Awards entries from the region and selected 70 to be displayed. They were drawn to intriguing works that resonated with their own experience of the criminal justice system and reflected their varied creative interests. Boundaries and thresholds loomed large in their recollections of their own time in prison and are depicted in many of the exhibited artworks: walls, doors, windows, hatches. Means of containing, but also of seeing and moving through.

Together, the exhibited artworks explore the experience of navigating a way through obstacles, drudgery, sadness and towards freedom; and both the excitement and fear that prospect can inspire. We also see the potential for creativity to blur and breach these boundaries through works made to share with loved ones and to mark moments of humour and connection.

Through the Blue
A Koestler Arts exhibition
Co-curated by people on probation in Oxford and Reading
29 January – 14 March 2026 (Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm)
Old Fire Station, Oxford

Free