Cultural Arts in Action
The NICRO Creative Arts In Prison Project
By Bren Brophy
Cultural Arts Consultant, HIVAN
 The National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO) recently launched its Creative Arts in Prison Project, 2005. The project has been in operation since 1988, and is a public-private partnership between NICRO and the Department of Correctional Services. NICRO ?regards crime as a threat to democracy and individual rights.? Through people centered development and services to victims, offenders and communities, NICRO strengthens a human rights culture and a safer South Africa.? To this end NICRO engages in lobbying and advocacy, capacity building, direct service delivery and research.? NICRO adheres to the principles of good governance and sound environmental practices?.
The aim of the Creative Arts and Craft Project is ?to improve the quality of life of offenders whilst in prison, help them make changes in their lives and return to society, with a clear life plan to stay out of crime?. The project is an annual competition for art and craft work by sentenced offenders in KwaZulu-Natal .
 |
|
Bren Brophy
Cultural Arts Consultant, HIVAN
|
Bren Brophy, HIVAN?s Cultural Arts Consultant within the Communication Arts and Advocacy Unit was invited to assist in the judging of artworks and deliver a key note address at the exhibition opening in Pietermaritburg on 12 th October 2005. Speaking to Department of Correctional Services Officials and invited guests he said?
?...it has been an enjoyable and rewarding privilege to assist with the selection of prize winners and merit award for the art and craft works that we see so beautifully displayed here today.
Firstly I must say that it was a demanding task!...this is because I believe that, were it possible, each and every of one of the hundreds of works submitted is deserving of our, and the communities, recognition and support. So? having said this I would like to dedicate these few words to ALL of the talented and hardworking artists and crafters whose wonderful and inspiring creations are represented here. Although I will not get to meet you all and am unaware of each of your personal circumstances?the dedication and commitment that you have shown in the making of your art and craft works speaks for you! Please accept in your absence our profound congratulations and encouragement for your contribution and efforts.
I would like to take this opportunity to try, briefly, to place in context the role of the arts and crafts within the context of the many issues and challenges surrounding offenders and their communities.
Historically the cultural arts in South Africa have been a dynamic? and highly visible force ? as a tool for social and political change and education they contribute to a better dispensation for communities facing unemployment, HIV and AIDS, poverty and dislocation from vital services.
The cultural arts also provide a means of understanding, exploration, healing, growth and transformation as witnessed by the significant contribution of the cultural arts to the evolution of the ?new? democratic South Africa. Many communities and individual who produce original craft and artwork have become ambassadors for their communities and indeed for our country, one only has to think of the magnificent beadwork and weaving that the world has come to associate with our unique traditional cultures and traditions.
The cultural arts are a tool for communication, advocacy and self expression. Arts and crafts open a dialogue between the public and the artist ?a relationship that can bring great rewards - both in terms of income generation and the building of skills and capacity that advocate for self employment and a more direct control over the upliftment and betterment of ones circumstances??
?..circumstances that may have previously been vulnerable to stigma and stereotyping. Within the context of this exhibition the personal expression of a diverse range of artists are a valuable document that is often lost and forgotten?namely the human face of a community of institutionalised offenders whose daily lived experiences are all but invisible to a society that chooses to marginalise what it does not understand.
The works we see here today are a powerful voice that reflects emotional responses that include , alienation and isolation but also responses of celebration, courage, determination, hope, faith, and social upliftment.
The languages of the arts, versatile and creative as they are, cross boundaries of culture, language, literacy and religious belief. Not surprisingly we see a significant variety of responses to the dreams and aspirations of participants in this project.
Often with very few and limited materials the ingenuity and sheer wizardry of these creations mirrors the very personal approaches to similar subjects and sometimes common everyday objects.
We need to re-open the debate that art and craft is merely a tool for income generation?which it certainly is. Art for arts sake has the power to transform life.
Against a backdrop of immense human challenge and suffering, the cultural arts evoke and express the subtleties of human perception and experience and the collective and universal nature of human emotion.
A humanistic view of the world suggests that knowledge and understanding must be acquired by engaging with a world of meaning, values and emotions. Experiential art making engages these faculties and awakens growth potential that is healing, commemorative and life affirming. Integration of body and mind, acceptance, forgiveness, loss and grief are archetypal human progressions not unfamiliar to the language of art - sight; hearing; thought; memories; ideas; beliefs; attitudes; touch; smell; taste; feelings and dreams.
Art as an existential, humanising force gives voice to the ?un-seeable? - that is, the spirit or the soul. As mirrors of the soul the arts are rather like waking dreams. They embody what it means to truly embrace a culture of human dignity and strive towards the unification of intent that binds our global destinies.
Culture advocates for life? The 2005 Creative Arts and Crafts Awards are part of this. The initiative is to be applauded for its commitment to promoting , developing and encouraging artists, crafters and artistic endeavour, specifically within the correctional services and the institutions that are home to so many talented individuals.
To promote the use of the arts in creating a human rights culture and in fostering human rights in South Africa - engages artists and communities towards a better understanding and knowledge of these issues? it also provides for the development of skills and sensibilities that will, in time, come to serve the families and communities of offenders who can look forward to a brighter, creative and more prosperous future.
Lastly thank you to my fellow judges, Marianne Meijer and Gehri Janse van Vuuren, and of course to the participating exhibitors, NICRO and the Department of correctional services for making this all possible?.
?
|
