Art prevails in notorious jail

DELHI - Some show bars and locked gates, others portray magical birds and beasts; many picture an idyllic colourful world away from the harsh, stark realities of their creators' lives.

But the one thing all these paintings have in common is that they provide the young men producing them with a way of communicating their experiences inside South Asia's largest prison.

Delhi's sprawling Tihar prison was once notorious across the region. But this assorted collection of works that goes on display this week is evidence of an ongoing effort that experts say has transformed the jail into a forward-thinking institution with rehabilitation programmes that would shame many institutions in the West.

For two years, a small team of artists and curators have been working with young inmates at Tihar to promote art as a means of dealing with the pressures of incarceration. As part of the project, they persuaded a number of India's leading contemporary artists to visit the facility on the outskirts of India's capital and work with some of the inmates.

Those behind the project hope that in addition to helping the inmates, the exhibition will open a window on the realities of life in jail. The paintings will go on display alongside works specially produced by some of the artists who gave up their time to work with the prisoners.

The project was conceived by art curators Anubhav Nath and Johny ML, who said they were interested in providing an insight into prison life for non-criminals as well as helping the inmates.

The artists they took to the jail spent half a day with prisoners aged between 19 and 21 and discussed painting techniques as well as the theory of art with them.

The process of transformation began under Kiran Bedi, who was India's highest-ranking female police officer and also served as the jail's inspector general before she retired.

During her time at the jail in the early 1990s, she introduced literacy projects, drug rehabilitation, yoga and meditation until people started referring to the prison as "the Tihar Ashram".

"Those who are not hardened criminals should be given a second chance," an artist at the project, Bose Krishnamachari, said.

"And the hardened ones should be punished severely."

- INDEPENDENT