| Peter Cameron
Peter Cameron entered prison as a drugs smuggler, and left as a painter.
He discovered he had a talent for painting while taking an art class in prison, and was soon painting copies of family photos for inmates in exchange for tobacco. A tutor, Steve Best - cartoonist 'Bestie' - spotted his potential and encouraged him to continue.
During his sentence Peter entered the Koestler and won on three occasions. He found that art helped make his years in prison more tolerable. As he told the Observer Newspaper "prison is a dark world, where so many things are denied you. You cling to anything that will take you away from the drab, mundane existence"
On his release Peter was contacted by the late Sir Stephen Tumin, Koestler Chair and a former Chief Inspector of Prisons, who invited him to exhibit at the Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Peter sold four paintings, and started a career as an artist.
Peter continues to paint from a shared studio in Liverpool. He also carries out sessional work for Koestler and has become one of our award judges. Despite the fact that Peter never went to Art School and didn't take up paining until he was forty his skill and talent as a painter is widely recognised. In 2007 Peter won the The Alex Prowse Website Award for Pastels. The award, which is presented annually to a non-member exhibiting at the Pastels Society's annual exhibition in London, is awarded to artists whose work shows notable originality and good technical skills.
Peter says; "without Koestler and Tumin, I would never have exhibited or been bought by influential people, never reviewed or written up".
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