IncarcerNation

IncarcerNation is a major exhibition responding to urgent contemporary conversations about incarceration, justice and systemic inequality in the Northern Territory and across regional Australia.

The exhibition brings together leading artists whose practices examine the failures and violences of Australia’s prison system.

Through video, installation, photography, painting, illustration, sound and documentary practices, IncarcerNation foregrounds lived experience, resistance and community-led visions for change. The exhibition exposes systemic injustice while opening space for dialogue and imagining futures grounded in self-determination, accountability and care.

The project is led by a curatorium comprising leading arts professionals Djon Mundine OAM, Don Nawurlany Christophersen, Jo Holder and Petrit Abazi. The selected artists bring diverse perspectives to the incarceration crisis affecting communities across Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory where incarceration rates are among the highest in the world. Through powerful artistic responses, IncarcerNation examines the social conditions, histories and systemic inequalities that shape Australia’s justice system. The exhibition foregrounds critical reflection and genuine engagement with communities, creating space for audiences to engage with complex and often confronting realities in a safe manner.

Art and artists play an essential role in storytelling and truth-telling, offering perspectives that are often overlooked within mainstream public discourse. IncarcerNation aims to foster public dialogue, increase awareness of the social impacts of incarceration and demonstrate the capacity of contemporary art to contribute meaningfully to urgent national conversations.

ARTISTS:

Hoda Afshar

Vernon Ah Kee

Billiamook

Nick Bland

M. Boko

Behrouz Boochani

Selma Nunay Coulthard

Mathew Dargan

Unrupa Rhonda Dick

Charlie Flannigan

Nicholas Gouldhurst

Jack Green

Zak Grieve

Gary Lee

Chips Mackinolty

Sara Maiorino

Georgie Mattingley

Archie Moore

Sally M Nangala Mulda

Albert Namatjira

Vincent Namatjira

Sandra Saunders

Gordon Syron

Jason Wing

Anwar Young

Frank Young

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

9 AUGUST @ NCCA-Vimy Lane

9:30AM UNTOLD DARWIN: Truth to Art History

A conversation with artist Gary Lee and author Don Chistophersen discussing

the historical context behind IncarcerNation.

Presented in collaboration with Agency Projects’s UNTOLD DARWIN series,

chaired by author, curator and academic Maurice O’Riordan, the conversation

will draw on Lee’s and Chistophersen’s work with archives and anthropology,

the framing of First Nations carceral stories and how this past impacts on

contemporary understanding of exhibitions.

10:30AM Truth to Power: Evidence-based advocacy

A panel discussion, speaking on the role creativity plays in communicating

serious issues and advocating for postivie change going forward.

Chaired by The Cross Art Projects Director Jo Holder, join Beth Wild,

President of NT Criminal Lawyers Association, Nick Espie, General Manager

of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Rocket

Bretherton, NT Coordinator for the Justice Reform Iniative and a guest

speaker from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency.

11:30AM Truth to Context: Artists working in and around prisons

A floortalk from NT-based artists Mathew Dargan, Sara Maiorino and Georgie

Mattingley, chaired by Petrit Abazi, Director NCCA.

In 2024, at the invitation of the Women’s Museum of Australia, these three

artists responded to the Old Alice Springs Gaol site with three solo exhibitions.

These bodies of work explored the tensions that lie at the heart of our society.

Now in IncarcerNation, Dargan, Mairoino and Mattingley reflect on their

work in the exhibition and how it adds to a wider conversation regarding

incarceration and justice in the Northern Territory.