The Backroom—Bending Prison Bars Through Art

Event Description

Featuring the work of currently and previously incarcerated artists, The Backroom explores
dreams, alternate realities, and liminal spaces. The “backroom,” in popular culture, embodies a strange place that exists somewhere between dream, memory, subconsciousness, and another dimension. Prison can feel similarly suspended between realities and removed from ordinary life. Often out of sight and at the edges of society, institutions render those kept inside largely invisible. Within these conditions of confinement, imagination and dreaming can become critical acts of hope and persistence. Inspired by the Surrealist tradition of transcending reality and disrupting the status quo, the artists in this exhibition explore worlds beyond the limitations of incarceration. The Backroom offers art as a means to imagine otherwise.This exhibition is an opportunity for those living inside to share their artistic works with the community and a chance to feel seen and not forgotten. Rather than reducing incarcerated people to stereotypes or statistics, the exhibition invites viewers into a conversation about visibility, belonging, and dignity. This work is supported by the A.R.T. & Justice Research Project. A.R.T. & Justice is a team of researchers, Indigenous Elders, and artists with lived experience of incarceration, based out of the University of British Columbia’s School of Nursing. The team works in partnership with the Correctional Service of Canada to provide artist workshops, high quality art supplies, and mentorship to incarcerated artists, while also researching the impacts of meaningful work and creative practice in prison, including how art can support holistic health and well-being.