Wrongful Convictions Remembered in Stone: Nicole Farhi’s Exhibition ‘J’Accuse…!’ Combines Art, Memory, and Social Justice.
On May 13, 2025, Peter Sullivan became the longest-serving victim of a wrongful conviction in the UK. As the news broke, it reignited public debate around justice, the appeals system, and the human cost of wrongful imprisonment. Social media lit up with commentary, and the art world didn’t stay silent either.
Nicole Farhi, former fashion designer turned full-time sculptor, responded by posting one of her busts on Instagram with the caption: “[It] is hard to comprehend spending so long in prison for a crime you didn’t commit.”
In the picture Farhi chose to share is Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2023, leading to the resignation of Helen Pitcher, Chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Andrew is one of 25 busts cast in ciment fondu (a fast-setting, stone-like casting material), part of Farhi’s new work, J’Accuse…!, featured at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.
Farhi’s sculpting career began in the 1980s as a way for her to give shape to her emotions and a voice to what she felt inside. J’Accuse…! is the result of two years of research, where Farhi studied the cases of wrongfully-accused individuals around the world, from child bride from Pakistan, Rani Bibi, who was convicted in 2001 age 14, accused of murdering her husband, to Mahmood Mattan, first case in the UK where compensation was awarded to the family of a person wrongly hanged.
Entering the space set up for the exhibition, the rooms resound with deafening silence. Surrounded by murmurs and whispers, the busts stand tall, watching from multiple angles.
Some have a direct gaze, some an absent one, some are blindfolded, allowing their stance to speak for them; in a successful result, Farhi captures and passes on pain, silence, resignation, and defeat. According to the artist, this is her most personal show to date: a striking example of commemorative art that speaks directly to issues of injustice, memory, and the responsibility of bearing witness.
The distortion of truth and the weight of its consequences accompany the theme of miscarriages of justice. In The Innocents, artist Taryn Simon challenges said concept through photography, recreating wrongly convicted individuals in the very places tied to their supposed guilt: bedrooms, forests, bars, placing photography itself under scrutiny. It’s a darkly ironic play on alibis and blurred lines, forcing us to ask difficult questions.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is another relevant precursor of social justice who gave commemorative art a new meaning with his work Trace. His brave and nonconformist intent? To connect art to the social sphere, to the individual, under the constraints of a censoring government. With both Farhi and Weiwei, art became a space dedicated to human rights.
The portraits by Farhi and Weiwei go beyond their identities as prisoners or exiles: they become activists and advocates for justice. Art as a linking power for social justice helps reflect on our shared humanity and gives voice to those whose names aren’t widely known; its primary goal is to commit them to memory, where justice has failed them.
There, where knowledge is power (Thomas Hobbes), Nicole Farhi turns to the past. By revisiting history, she sheds light on it, placing justice at the forefront and giving voice to those who have gone unheard. Farhi opens the door to many other themes, including self-defense, child marriage, racism, and misogyny.
Farhi’s work provokes an emotional and empathetic side in the viewer, creating a sense of community that transcends time and space. “Art ignites empathy, and humanizes a problem,” says Nadine Labaki, Lebanese actress and director. When crimes and injustice are told through data and numbers, art plays the role of a translator that engages, involves, and therefore communicates in a way that centers humans and society.
“I aim to help people not forget them, because not forgetting is the greatest service we can do” – Nicole Farhi
Over a century has passed since the Dreyfus Affair – the event that inspired Farhi’s exhibition title. Still, the cry of those who have been betrayed by a justice system that turned against them is louder than ever, and artists all over the world are committed to not letting their memory fade into silence.
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