The Challenge of Redefining the Imprisoned Self as an Artist: The Pedagogical Rituals of a Prison Arts Instructor

Abstract

AbstractWhile some advocate the use of arts programmes to help improve inmates’ lives and reduce recidivism, the process of how such programmes can have therapeutic and practical value in prison's hostile environs requires further study. This project investigates how one prison arts instructor approaches the task of developing the inmates’ creative potential and unleashing their ‘inner artist’. The article describes the pedagogical approach aimed at helping prison inmates redefine themselves as artists via art classroom rituals. The imprisoned self as the artist, however, emerges mainly as a temporary identity that must be submerged upon return to the daily routines of hypermasculine prison environments. Thus inmates experience a profound duality of their identities, split between ‘artist’ and ‘inmate’, which constrains the long‐term therapeutic and rehabilitative value of the intervention.