Deeds, Not Words: A Poetry Chapbook

During her time with Prison Residencies Art project, Polly Hall researched the suffragette movement of the 1900’s and responded to this in Cell 5 of C-Wing at Shepton Mallet Prison with her installation, ‘Balloons’, from 18th September to 3rd October 2021.Conscious of the limited means to express oneself in prison, ‘Balloons’ embodies air as representative of thoughts, speech, and fractured communication within a contained environment. Balloons, normally associated with parties and celebrations, occupied the confined space of the prison cell.The balloon tails in white, purple and green represented the colours of the suffragette movement; many women were imprisoned when campaigning for the right to vote.Gender inequality still exists today. These poems are an introspection inquiry into what it means to be free in today's fast-paced socially changing world.