Cell by Date

 

The "Cell by Date" exhibition at Bolton Museum and Archives has been developed by young people from the Genesis E2E Project. The group have explored the differences between two people, two crimes, two cells looking at how a prison cell has changed since 1871. They researched the life of Agnes Lawless and her conviction for theft from the shop keeper Joseph Holden and her later sentence of six months hard labour at Strangeways Prison.

After visiting Hindley Prison and speaking to a young offender they constructed cells of each period, they designed leaflets and posters with a graphic designer and began the production of filming a Victorian drama around Boltons town centre with industry professional artists from www.biggerpicturearts.com

The young people were divided by a Adrian Barber into a feature film crew and a behind the scenes crew and roles included camera operators, sound recordists and photographers. Over a series of weekly filming sessions the crews shot scenes at various Victorian locations in Bolton, including a court room, prison cells and a Victorian shop.They interviewed each other about their roles and involvement in the project and this is the resulting video.

 

The final "Cell by date" film can be seen here: