"Blue Boy 4" (back cover)

Authors

  • Steel Door Studios

Abstract

Conceptualising and executing this series has had quite a cathartic effect upon me, so the more I share of myself and the angst ridden history I have experienced the much greater the identification with vulnerability being strength rather than a weakness I come to acknowledge. This painting is much more that an individual’s desire to escape his carceral surroundings. It represents a yearning, a need, to break out of that pigeonhole they had been boxed into by years of oppressive voices reiterating the defects of character they pertain to witness in you. Given enough time a person will eventually come to believe this is an absolute truth. You ‘aren’t worthy’, ‘you are bad’. The cloak of shame I have worn throughout my life weighed heavy upon my soul until I learnt one simple lesson, the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt… I have done something bad. Shame… I am bad. Nobody can live a healthy fulfilling life believing they are defective no matter what label somebody insists on applying to you, remember you are a human being. You can make mistakes and you can make amends, but never make yourself a prisoner.

Author Biography

Steel Door Studios

Having spent a lot of time in isolation armed with little more than a pencil, a good eye for detail and the imagination born of bare stone walls, I have had to think outside the box (quite literally). I have always tried to approach my work from a position of individuality and my attitude towards art is a fearless one of trial and error. If I do not or cannot achieve what I am after, I absorb the learning curve and move onto something new. The ‘something new’ always fi lls me with a sense of excitement and nothing ever gets truly left behind. During these long years of confi nement, art has been my one constant companion. Without its loyalty I would experience more of the pain and fear that shaped my life from a young age. I am no longer the product of my crime, but of my creativity. I survived the past, I am thankful for the present, and I now have a future. Fortunately, with the permission of the Governor, I have been aff orded the opportunity to build a website (see https://steeldoorstudios.com). It is our desire that this project becomes a beneficial platform for myself and other imprisoned people to fi nd their creative voices, be able to share, connect and maybe one day return to the outside world, not as a tainted outcast but as a useful and valued member of society with something to offer.

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Published

2025-01-17

Issue

Vol. 34 No. 1 (2025): Emotions and the Affective Politics of Incarceration

Section

COVER ART