Indigenous Australians Heal through Art in Prison Doc The Art of Incarceration
The Art of Incarceration documents an art program at Fulham Correctional Center, showcasing the art (primarily paintings) of then-incarcerated or recently released Indigenous Australian men. Directed, written and produced by Alex Siddons, the 81-minute Netflix documentary discusses disparities in the carceral system in Australia, shedding light on the material condition of Australian racial dynamics while closely examining the lives of some men that have found an emotional outlet and a deeper connection to their cultural identities through art. It’s insightful and concise, though its split focus between incarcerated individuals and judicial disparities somehow sidesteps analyzing general prison conditions. The peek into the lives of those touched by the Torch’s Statewide Indigenous Arts in Prison and Community program is nonetheless enlightening.
The Art of Incarceration opens with a warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers that the film contains images and voices of people who have died, showing immediate cultural sensitivity before the statement that “Indigenous Australians are the most incarcerated people on the planet Earth,” attributed to Noel Pearson, the founder of the Cape Youth Institute. Shortly thereafter, “Uncle Jack” Charles, an Australian Indigenous elder, activist and performer, introduces the statistics that contextualize the film. These are numbers from 2017 showing that, while Australians with Indigenous ancestry account for less than 3% of the country’s population, they make up 27% of incarcerated adults and 55% of incarcerated youth. These disparities are not altogether dissimilar from the systemic racism faced by Black, Latine/x and Native Americans in the U.S., though statistically even worse. But we’ll return to that later. The stories they tell highlight the high recidivism rate that Charles later discusses: That 58% of these incarcerated return within a year of release and that the increasing incarceration rate of Indigenous Australians at a cost of $100,000/year is economically unsustainable.
Besides Charles, one of the main conductors of The Art of Incarceration is Paul McCann, then the Indigenous Arts Officer at The Torch, the organization that runs the art program with incarcerated Australians. He works with people like Christopher Austin—who, at the time of filming, had spent 37 years behind bars and, in that time, never more than nine months out of incarceration since childhood—and Troy Brabham—a former freelance photographer for the Australian Broadcast Company, Reuters and the BBC who had spent nine years in prison.
One artist, Robby Wirramanda, speaks explicitly about how punishment in society continues after release through the difficulties of finding employment. Wirramanda, who’s also credited as a writer and cultural advisor on the film, and whose sons are credited as production assistants, gets a job with The Torch as a Regional Arts Officer to help the formerly incarcerated reintegrate into society. His beautiful wooden sculptures also end up netting him commissions with a private art dealer in Melbourne.
Other featured artists include Joseph Bray, who beautifully expresses the way he channels art—composed pieces in his head that his hands bring into reality—and the team-building, communal nature of working together to create the Confined art show (in its eighth year during the filming of the documentary, and now approaching their 13th showing). There’s also Damian Owers, a truly incredible painter, and the men (some with faces blurred) at Fulham Correctional that built four-foot didgeridoos out of popsicle sticks.
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