There’s a fascinating looking exhibition about Perth Prison at the Perth Museum and Art Gallery. It’s called “The Tension of a Line” by Martin Fowler who taught art to prisoners in Perth.
Before parts of Perth’s jail were pulled down in 2008 during its modernisation programme, Mr. Fowler drew and painted the disused and derelict wings earmarked for demolition. The resulting work forms the exhibition which runs until 8 May 2010.
Colourful gouache paintings of the prison exteriors and black ink drawings of the prison’s interiors capture the unique personality of the architecture.
“For me, the drawings were about tension,” said Mr. Fowler.
“There is the tension of a prisoner, the tension of a maximum security space, the tension of a line. I found prison to be a place where I considered my every word and my every move to cause no offence, to not look weak, to not convey anxiety, to coax, to calm and to reassure. In prison I always felt that it was easy to put a foot wrong.”
More information about the exhibition is included in this article in the Perthshire Advertiser http://bit.ly/9gjLot.
If you’ve been to the exhibition (or one like it), why not let Just & Reasonable™ readers know what you thought by posting a comment.
Tags: Prison architecture