Art Works by Women in Prison & Post Release 2000 - 2005 & 2005 - 2007

 

Somebody’s Daughter Theatre runs weekly art classes in two prisons, and a post release program. Literally hundreds of women have attended the classes, and a small selection of their work has been reproduced in a book form available to the general public. The majority of the women explore art as a creative sanctuary whilst in prison, and common themes include connection with nature and the female psyche, cultural identity, challenges of incarceration and longing for family. Many have little or no experience in making art and, once they overcome initial self doubt, discover a deep sense of satisfaction and achievement.

The arts make for an equal meeting ground, and therein lies the strength of Somebodys Daughter Theatre, by celebrating the creative impulse without pathologising or judging. What is discovered is the journey of all artists. The heart and soul journeys and arrivals at places that can only be navigated by heart and soul. It's all about understanding what it is to be human, and those points of connectdness that surpasses race, creed, money, power ... . this is a celebration of art.

It's difficult to comphrehend the importance of the freedom that creativity can give to lives that are trapped. If you are always unequal, unheard, spoken for, spoken about, then the arts can be life- changing and even life- saving. In the land of prison, women have truly been stripped to the bone - theirs is no imaginative exercise - their bodies are physically stripped, their children are taken from them, their loved ones removed, their house, clothes, all gone.

Where so much has been taken, there is nothing to hide behind. It's all about what remains - your heart, your soul.

The publication of these selected works is a tribute not only to the women who have created them but to the extraordinarily skilled artists from Somebodys Daughter Theatre who have worked with these women - encouraging, teaching, nurturing and drawing out their talents.