AN art exhibition, described by RTE rugby pundit Brent Pope as a “vehicle for change” at its launch in the Hunt Museum, has brought together the outstanding artistic talent of prisoners and former prisoners from Limerick and prisons across the country.
Aptly titled ‘Fallen Bird’, the bi-annual exhibition hosted by the Irish Prison Service, gives a rare glimpse into the lives of Ireland’s most ‘outsider’ artists.
Launched at the city’s Hunt Museum to a full-house last Friday, the show featured a broad range of stunning artworks produced at Irish prison education units in medium such as oil paints, sculpture, lion prints, mosaic, photography, video and pottery.
Speaking at the launch of the exhibition, director general of the Irish Prison Service, Michael Donnellan said that the artists involved, had “fallen out of society”.
“Everybody falls. Art and music help hook people who were never in school back into education. This becomes their route back in to second and third chance education and back into society,” said Mr Donnellan.
“This exhibition of prisoner art is very important. It is very poignant and I hope people will interact with it,” he added.
Prison education aspires to offer a broad curriculum, encompassing academic subjects, Physical Education, Health/Social education and literacy/numeracy courses. Art, craft and design courses are considered an integral part of the curriculum in each of the education units in Irish prisons, with visual arts, music, writing and drama, among the most popular.
‘Fallen Bird’, the title of the exhibition, was taken from a stunning oil on canvas piece by Eric, a former training unit internee in Dublin. The talented young artist only picked up a paintbrush for the first time 10 months ago and the end results of his first works are powerful and stunningly evocative.
“I always loved drawing but I only started using oil paints when I was in the training unit. It was a great opportunity to be able to do that and I definitely want to develop that skill now. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life,” the budding artist told the Limerick Post.
‘Fallen Bird’, an exhibition of artworks by prisoners, runs at the Hunt Museum until November 2.
