NICRO was, once again, overwhelmed by the astounding quality and number of entries from offenders from all corners of South Africa, and we are especially pleased that all nine provinces were so well represented in this year’s competition.

As the NICRO Creative Arts Competition goes from strength to strength, we are constantly reminded of the great value of this initiative, as well as the highly significant role of art and other forms of creative expression in promoting the healing process and the rehabilitation of offenders.

The Department of Correctional Services, with whom we work closely to present the arts competition, highlights the therapeutic use of art within rehabilitation in its White Paper. This undoubtedly serves to underscore the importance of NICRO’s commitment to affording offenders serving a prison sentence the opportunity of unlocking their creativity and dealing with the harsh realities of punishment in a positive, practical and enjoyable manner.

While prison is about regulation and imposed controls, and was designed (in the words of our former state president, Dr Nelson Mandela, in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom) “to break one’s spirit and destroy one’s resolve”, art is about internal exploration, expanding the boundaries and the taking of personal risks.

The idea behind the Creative Arts Competition is very simple: to motivate and encourage prisoners from all walks of life throughout South Africa to make constructive use of their time, to take a journey of discovery, and to harness their artistic skills. The purpose is partly to heal, partly to promote self-expression and creative talent, and partly to instil in the prisoner a keen desire to embark on a constructive life.

NICRO would like to express its deep gratitude to the Department of Correctional Services, its staff and South Africa’s incarcerated men and women for their enthusiasm, fervent support of and participation in the competition. We believe that this valuable partnership, a major contributing factor to the successes achieved, will continue to strengthen.

We remain fervently dedicated to harnessing and strengthening the remarkable talent that the competition uncovers, to affording offenders the opportunity of utilising their artistic skills to assist with their reintegration, and to providing them with an avenue through which to achieve a very real sense of personal achievement and triumph. We are firm in our belief that participation in the competition both motivates prisoners and equips them to broaden their skills, and to realise their aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs and economically self-sufficient.

NICRO would like to pay tribute to all the Prison Art Competition entrants, and heartily congratulate those who won awards.

Soraya Solomon
Executive Director

FROM THE LEAD ADJUDICATOR

Rooms of art and craft works sent from prisons across the country was what we were faced with on our first day of judging the 2004 NICRO Prison Arts Competition - a formidable job given the huge variety of entries - from a small wooden box to a life-size sculpture, from an embroidered panel to a Chinese-style ceramic vase, belts, poetry, paintings, table mats and matchstick constructions; the collective skills, imaginination and craft of largely un-tutored individuals who express themselves with their hands. Fortunately, we were primarily concerned with the artworks and sculpture; but even here the task was enormous, as the theme was broad and it was not possible to categorize according to medium - works in oil, gouache, pencil and painted fabric had to compete with each other. We had new and exciting ground to break.

The first aspect that soon became apparent was that artistic talent, though a contributing factor, could not properly be considered, given the almost total lack of artistic training. We were left with what we considered the best, and this was the toughest part, requiring hours of debate and many cups of coffee. The final choice of prize winners must, of necessity, be somewhat subjective, but certainly not arbitrary, and we felt collectively that those artists fully merited their awards. But then, so did many others - there just were not enough prizes to go round.

The exhibition itself was well organised and the venue - the venerable Castle - provided an excellent backdrop for a colourful occasion. NICRO is to be congratulated on this important innovation and we hope that this will continue to be an annual event.

Jonathan Bradshaw
Lead Adjudicator - NICRO Creative Arts Competition 2004