Indigenous art changing lives through The Torch program

A Victorian arts program that supports Indigenous people to produce artwork while incarcerated is calling on the public to donate cash to keep the program alive.

The Torch CEO Kent Morris with former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett at an exhibition at the Glen Eira City Council gallery. Picture: Aaron Francis

As debate about an Indigenous voice to parliament forges ahead, a Victorian arts program – run off “the sniff of an oily rag” – has been reducing recidivism rates of incarcerated Aboriginal Australians for years by selling their artworks, often created in prison, and returning 100 per cent of sales to their pocket.

The Torch, chaired by former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, also helps offenders and ex-offenders find work after jail, including at The Torch, which employs 23 permanent staff, 13 of which are First Nations men and women.

Mr Kennett, who did not explicitly declare his support for the voice, urged Victorian businesses to donate much-needed cash to the charity which he said has reduced the rate at which participants returned to jail from 59 per cent to 11 per cent.

“That is a massive reduction. It's not perfect, but I don’t think there’s an organisation working with Indigenous people who get that sort of result for the money that we spend,” he said.

“We do this on the sniff of an oily rag. For all those who are giving millions and millions of dollars in support of the voice, particularly those Victorian companies, please think of us for some of that.”

With CEO Kent Morris – a Barkindji man from northwest NSW and an artist himself – at the helm, the annual exhibition showcases hundreds of pieces of artwork for sale in person and online.

This year’s “Confined” showcase is displaying 470 works by 420 artists, including paintings and sculptures, and is open to the public in Melbourne until June 4.

Mr Morris said artwork sales and licensing in 2016 totalled $130,000 following a policy change that allowed incarcerated people to sell artworks. That figure jumped to $1.1m last year.

“This to me not only shows the enthusiasm and skills building and the passion of the men and women, but that the community … government organisations and the business sector support this,” he said.

“It’s grassroots. It’s built by the men and women in it.”

The program is facilitated by Mr Morris, and helps Aboriginal prisoners connect with their culture and identity by supplying them with images of country, totem animals and the history of their language group. “There’s nothing in there (prison) for them. It’s a cultural vacuum,” he said.

Mr Morris said his father, an Aboriginal man born in Tibooburra in the far northwest of NSW, and Irish mother feared he and his sister would experience racism and “never disclosed his heritage or where he was from”.

Fast-tracking through his life, Mr Morris said he met his father’s mother for the first time when he was about 11 years old, and gravitated towards the arts and music before engaging in “behaviours that landed me in front of the magistrate”. He then embarked on a quest to discover who he was and finally took a job as The Torch’s chief.

“This is a mirror of what happens in the program. (It shows) what’s possible when each person can understand who they are, where they’re from, and what their potential might be,” he said.

Mr Kennett said The Torch had been closing the gap for 14 years, but the organisation needed to raise $2.5m per year for the next five years. More than 600 Indigenous men and women are currently connected to The Torch program.