Quilts and Prisons

Two days ago my brother sent me the catalogue for the current exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Quilts 1700-2010, Hidden Histories, Untold Stories. One of the essays by Sue Pritchard (the curator) is entitled "Creativity and Confinement" and makes a link between Australia's early history as a penal colony and ongoing habilitation work in prisons.
Our 'Rajah Quilt' has been loaned to the V&A by the National Gallery of Australia for the exhibition and acts as a historical counterpoint to a contemporary quilt made by prisioners at Wandsworth Prison (but search as I may I can only find a partial image of the Wandsworth quilt on the internet, only examples of some of the individual hexagons which make up the quilt are shown in the catalogue, not the whole quilt).
The Wandsworth quilt has come about through Fine Cell Work, a group who teaches needlework to both female and male prisoners.

But it is not the inclusion of the Rajah Quilt that was the inspiration for this blog, it was the individual hexagons shown in the catalogue--each one stitched by the prisoner in their cell and is a personal response to their experience of prison (one made by a prisoner who had been in the military lists recent conflicts--Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, N Ireland, Afganistan--together with the stitched inscription: "a new home for heros, heresay evidence convicts anyone, serve your country, do your time").
Judy McDermott taught pottery at Long Bay Gaol (dates to come)--she had oringinally been a potter and came to quiltmaking later in her life. Some of the pottery made at Long Bay found it's way into her quilts (the wattle flowers in 'Watttle in a Bottle', for example) but it was her own experience of working in a prison which became the inspiration for the Big House series.
In 1995, Judy was artist-in-residence at the Gunnery Studios and took the opportunity to develop her 'Big House: Go To Gaol' series which was exhibited at the Object Galleries, Sydney in 1999...Transition and re-location, her journey from her home set on the edge of bushland to work at the gaol. She spoke out and her experience lends authenticity to the telling.

Image: Judy McDermott Big House: Bed of Roses Crown of Thorns (1995-97) 125x160cm (photographer A Payne)

The final quote (in italics) comes from my essay in the catalogue to her exhibition, Speaking For Themselves at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum, January 2008