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Kevin Devonport, a former soldier who turned to crime and served a 13-year prison sentence, has discovered his passion for art and become an award-winning artist. Devonport struggled with drug addiction after leaving the Army at 21 and began his criminal career as a heroin dealer. After serving three jail sentences, he was caught selling heroin in 2007 and faced the prospect of another lengthy prison term.
While still in jail, Devonport enrolled in and obtained a first-class honours degree in sociology from the Open University. However, a painting class organised by charity Care After Combat changed his life’s trajectory. Despite not having been an “arty person,” he took to the class “like a fish to water” and won his first national award while still in prison.
Since his release in 2014, Devonport has won multiple awards, exhibited in London and obtained a studio in Leeds. His art often draws inspiration from his experiences of the justice system and his time as a Chieftain gunner in the First Royal Tank Regiment, stationed in Northern Ireland and Germany. His most recent exhibition, “Nothing Ordinary Here,” is currently on display in Leadenhall Market, London.
Devonport told the BBC that his art had anchored him and helped him reintegrate into society despite the stigma of incarceration. “Being an artist gives me a sense of who I am, a sense of identity. I was lost. It’s given me something to attach to,” he said. While his route to becoming an artist might have been unconventional, he said he did not regret his past. He believes his unique life experiences have made him a better artist
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