Kirstin Harvie's solo show 'Beyond Redemption' opens at the Hunter Saville Cumbrae Studio & Gallery
Beyond Redemption is a provocative new art show by graduating MA Fine Art student Kirstin Harvie, exploring the boundaries of crime, justice and identity.
Open until 2 November at the Hunter Saville Cumbrae Studio & Gallery on the Isle of Cumbrae, Beyond Redemption focuses on the 107 individuals in the UK who have served, or are serving, prison sentences with no possibility of release.
Through this exhibition, artist Kirstin Harvie challenges viewers to consider how they are represented in the media and the penal system. Prints and portraits are juxtaposed to provoke the viewer to form their own response to questions of identity, media representation and the role of the justice system.
Working with these images raises questions of sensationalism, representation and consent; and the works have been approached with deliberate neutrality, resisting notoriety and allowing viewers to form their own opinions.
Kirstin Harvie with some of her work in Yellow Studio at The Inside and Outside of Belonging MA Fine Art Degree Show, University of Leeds, September 2025. Photo by Mark Bickerdike. Image © University of Leeds.
Kirstin Harvie is a painter whose work confronts the relationship between violence, identity and representation.
Originally from London, she recently completed an MA in Fine Art in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. Her academic background informs a research-led practice that interrogates how complex moral issues are mediated and consumed.
Kirstin’s undergraduate studies in Politics, Philosophy and Economics – which included research into intimate partner homicide and the motivations behind violent crime – gave her a grounding in the rigorous analytical analysis of societal issues that is at the heart of this postgraduate show.
Her academic background informs a research-led practice that interrogates how complex moral issues are mediated and consumed.
Harvie’s works were originally showcased at The Inside and Outside of Belonging – this year’s MA Fine Art Degree Show at the University of Leeds – alongside the work of four other graduating artists. Beyond Redemption is her first solo show.
Kirstin Harvie, Robert Maudsley, 2025. Acrylic on board. On display at The Inside and Outside of Belonging MA Fine Art Degree Show, University of Leeds, September 2025. Photo by Mark Bickerdike. Image © University of Leeds.
Kirstin said:
“Beyond Redemption features monochrome prints and brightly coloured, large-scale portraits. These two bodies of work are placed in deliberate juxtaposition: the prints suggesting anonymity and confinement, the portraits insisting on presence.
“In one of my works, 27 prints are stacked to create a physical presence confining the individuals: many are present, yet none can be clearly identified.
“Each small print contains four individuals layered together, referencing the 19th-century pseudoscience of criminal physiognomy and its enduring shadow over modern justice systems. The portraits are fractured and reassembled to disrupt information or create absence, physically altering the subjects, as they are by their crimes and media portrayal.
“Ethical sensitivity is central to my work. Drawing from my academic background in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, through these pieces I engage with issues of representation, consent and notoriety. By avoiding sensationalism, I encourage viewers to confront the complexities of justice and form their own response.
“It will be interesting to see how the work is received in a different environment to my degree show and what responses it generates.”
Kirstin Harvie's Everyone (II), 2025 (screen print on acrylic sheets) in Yellow Studio at The Inside and Outside of Belonging MA Fine Art Degree Show, University of Leeds, September 2025. Photo by Mark Bickerdike. Image © University of Leeds.
Dr Cesar Cornejo, Associate Professor Fine Art and MA Fine Art programme lead in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies said:
“Kirstin's work confronts us with dark aspects of society and does this with a great level of skill and acuity.
“She creates an environment for audiences to engage with the works and the subject they address, inviting them to reassess their views free of prejudices and construct new ones based on the art experience.”
Exhibition poster for Beyond Redemption, an exhibition of work by Kirstin Harvie at the Hunter Saville Cumbrae Studio & Gallery from 5 October to 2 November 2025. Image shows Harvie's All of them, 2025 (print on paper).
More information
Beyond Redemption runs from Sunday 5 October to Sunday 2 November at The Hunter Saville Cumbrae Studio & Gallery, 14 Guildford Street, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae. The gallery is open Thursday to Sunday, 12 to 5pm.
Full details about Kirstin Harvie’s Beyond Redemption exhibition can be found here.
Find out about Kirstin Harvie.
Read about Kirstin’s work and the four other participating artists in The Inside and Outside of Belonging MA Fine Art Degree Show in a review in Corridor8 (29 September 2025) and news story published by the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies (6 September 2025).
Feature image
Installation view of Beyond Redemption, an exhibition of work by Kirstin Harvie at the Hunter Saville Cumbrae Studio and Gallery, 5 October to 2 November 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.
