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Culture

Paper Chained Prison Art Exhibition Goes National!

By

Damien Linnane

Damien Linnane is the editor of Paper Chained, a quarterly journal for art and writing which is made available to all people in NSW prisons. Damien was sentenced to two years in prison in 2015 for crimes that were described by the sentencing magistrate as an act of vigilantism. During his sentence he wrote a crime novel, Scarred, and then taught himself to draw. He is currently completing a PhD on the history of prison newsletters in Australia.

Exhibition installation in Brisbane this year

After running Australia’s first ever international prison art exhibition in Sydney in May last year, it was great to be able to finally tour the works to another city. We plan to bring the art to a new city each year.

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The Paper Chained International art exhibition features over a hundred artworks from incarcerated people in Australia and overseas. The exhibition toured to Brisbane in March as part of the Beyond the Bars exhibition organised by Green Fox Studios.

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Paper Chained magazine is aiming to tour our international art exhibition to a different city each year, with the next exhibition to be in Newcastle, New South Wales, in February next year.

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If you have any artworks you would like displayed at that exhibition, or just in our magazine in general, please send them to us, or write to us for more information.

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Paper Chained

PO Box 2073

Dangar, NSW 2309

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We cannot assist with getting your art to us, but after the exhibition we can post it to your family or friends on the outside, as prisons will likely not accept artworks other than drawings on paper being posted back in. Otherwise, we can just hold on to your art for future exhibitions – it is completely up to you.

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Incarcerated people in Queensland are advised to seek approval from Corrections to be part of the exhibition, as you may face internal discipline otherwise.

This
article
was originally printed in the
July 2025
edition of About Time.
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