From the Inside Summer 2012
Open until 11 March 2012
Fremantle Prison is showcasing artworks by current Western Australian inmates in its new exhibition From the Inside Summer 2012 – WA Prisoner Art. This exciting exhibition features contemporary artworks produced by Western Australian prisoners with a strong representation of Aboriginal art.
Art can be recreational, vocational and educational but most relevant is its therapeutic qualities. Art is expression, expression is communication and communication is a first step to effecting change. It is important to consider that the artists have no models and no landscapes to study for inspiration; everything has to come from the inside.
From the Inside Summer 2012 – WA Prisoner Art exhibition is a joint initiative between the Department of Corrective Services and the Department of Finance (Fremantle Prison).
The exhibition opens on 08 December and runs until 11 March 2012. Admission to the exhibition is free.
Rock Breakers: prisoners built this colony, geology made it rich
Closes February 2012
A new exhibition featuring historic objects from Western Australian’s premier public collections is now open.
'Rock Breakers: prisoners built this colony, geology made it rich' tells the story of Fremantle Prison and the Old Perth Gaol during the 1880s.
In 1881 the colony’s first public collection was started at Fremantle Prison. The Geological Museum held rocks, minerals and fossils collected throughout Western Australia. The rock displays served as a reference collection for explorers and prospectors planning to set out into the state’s interior in search of the ultimate geological prize – gold!
In 1891 the Geological Museum moved from Fremantle Prison into the Old Perth Gaol. There it transformed into the Western Australian Museum, precipitating the birth of Perth’s cultural precinct.
Rock Breakers features samples from the original geological collection, now held in the Western Australian Museum’s main storage facility in Welshpool. Other objects showcased in the exhibition include punishment implements from the Fremantle Prison Collection and the original 1850 flogging post, early maps and plans from the State Records Office, colonial books from the State Library of Western Australia, and 19th Century scientific instruments from the Western Australian Museum.
Rock Breakers is on show until February 2012 in the Prison Gallery. Entry is free.