Overview

Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery presents a new exhibition of sculpture by artist and designer Nicole Farhi. Farhi will display 25 cast ciment fondu busts, each hand painted with acrylic paint and depicting victims of miscarriages of justice across multiple countries around the world over the past 125 years. Running from 19 March to 15 June 2025, the exhibition portrays victims whose wrongful convictions have shaped legal history.

The exhibition takes its name from J’Accuse…! — Émile Zola’s famous open letter that exposed the wrongful conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in France in 1898. Inspired by Dreyfus’s case, Farhi has spent the past two years researching and sculpting figures from around the world who have been unjustly accused, from Timothy Evans, whose wrongful execution helped abolish capital punishment in Britain, to 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.

J’Accuse…! invites visitors to consider the people behind these cases. Each bust, crafted with personal care, offers a portrait of an individual who endured years, even decades, of wrongful imprisonment, some faced torture, some lost their lives.

A celebrated designer turned full-time sculptor, Nicole Farhi CBE is widely known for her eponymous fashion brand but has dedicated the past two decades to her artistic practice. Having trained under Jean Gibson and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, she has exhibited at Gainsborough’s House and The Harley Gallery. Farhi, a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, has often focused on the human form, and J’Accuse…! marks a new focus — one that uses portraiture to depict the victims behind cases that have made legal and political history.

This exhibition contains sculpture and archival material such as newspaper articles relating to cases in which miscarriages of justice have occurred, including cases involving abuse. Some visitors may find the content of this exhibition distressing. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in the exhibition, then you can find links to support and practical advice here.