Art in Prison: A Bridges Inside Panel

A panel on the state of the arts inside Australian correctional centres.

Thursday, May 8th | 4:00 pm | Rogers Room N397 John Woolley Building

“Prison art practices resist the isolation, exploitation, and dehumanisation of carceral facilities.”

— Nicole Fleetwood, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration (2020)

How can opportunities for creative expression transform the experience of incarceration? How does artmaking occur inside prisons? What does this art mean?

Join us for a panel discussion on the value and the potential of artistic practices inside prisons. The conversation will be led by our special guests Dr Patricia Morgan, community and arts-based researcher; Luke Patterson, Gamilroi poet; and Dr Toby Martin, musician and cultural historian at the University of Sydney.

Refreshments and the opportunity to chat will follow the panel.

Speakers

PATRICIA MORGAN

Dr Patricia Morgan is an interdisciplinary scholar specialising in qualitative phenomenological research (QPR). She combines 20 years of international experience in contract research, community and policy development with 13 years of academic research in her innovative scholarship. She works across the fields of Philosophy, Information Systems, Medical Research, the Arts and Social Sciences.

LUKE PATTERSON

Luke Patterson is a Gamilaroi poet, folklorist and musician living on Gadigal lands. His poetry has appeared in Cordite, Plumwood Mountain, Rabbit, Running Dog and The Suburban Review. He has also featured in the anthologies Active Aesthetics, Firefront: first nation’s poetry and power today and Best of Australian Poems 2021.

TOBY MARTIN

Toby Martin is a songwriter, musician and historian. He is the author of Yodelling Boundary Riders: country music in Australia since the 1920s, and his recent albums include I Felt the Valley Lifting and Songs From Northam Ave. He is the lead singer of the rock band Youth Group and is currently co-chief investigator on the ARC project ‘Hearing the music of Early NSW 1788-1860’. He lives and works on Gadigal-Wangal land, and is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Music at the University of Sydney.

Chair

JEDIDIAH EVANS

Jedidiah Evans is a lecturer in the Discipline of English at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on arts and incarceration, with a particular focus on prison writing. Outside of his research, he runs prison writing workshops and edits Paper Chained, a magazine featuring the art and writing of incarcerated people.