Documentary: The Art of Incarceration

Some years ago there was a very significant documentary on the imprisonment of Australia's First Nations men and women, Incarceration Nation. It highlighted the overwhelming statistics, prison treatment.

Interestingly, this brief documentary, which also highlights the statistics, uses the word 'Incarceration' over imprisonment. The Oxford Dictionary indicates a nuance: the state of being confined in prison; imprisonment. And, 'confined' is also a significant word, used in the title for an annual art exhibition at the Fulham Centre in Victoria, the Confined art exhibition.

The focus of this film is on male prisoners, especially middle-aged men. They tell their stories. The film itself is introduced by Uncle Jack Charles, by now a well-known First Nations icon, actor, television presenter and social commentator, drawing on his own experiences of crime when young, prison, out, back again… He knows from experience what he is talking about.

The men interviewed for the film have similar experiences, crime when young, growing up in this kind of atmosphere, introduced to drugs, addictions, robberies, imprisonment, getting out, continuing addictions, back to jail…

One of the key characters throughout the film is Robby Wirramanda, big, burly, jovial talker, singer… The film also focuses on two of the prisoners and their life story. But the important thing is art. The men express the continued desire to get back to their First Nation's roots, knowledge and awareness, a sense of belonging. And, they are finding this through art, through painting - and the camera does highlight quite a number of the paintings, and the attention to detail, colour, design, myth-making.

There is also a sadness underlying the interviews, memories of the past, regrets, opportunities after leaving prison, the experience of parole, the continued effects of drug taking - the men quite articulate in their self-expression and vocabulary, and a sudden jolt when it is revealed, just after we have looked at him and listened to him, that he had overdosed and is dead.

There are the members from The Torch organisation, non-profit, which sponsors the Confined exhibition, the men coming in, sharing experiences, tutoring, encouraging.

This documentary takes its place alongside so many which look at the prison system, at the experience of confinement, incarceration, but also of imaginative possibilities for the men and their self-respect, and for creative rehabilitation.

The Art of Incarceration is available on Netflix

See the official trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVnX7eROZ_M