Art Behind The Bars (A Case Study of District Prison Kasur, Punjab)

Abstract

This research was aimed to explore the artifacts being produced inside the prison. Efforts are made to define and describe the process of making of these artifacts. Material demand and supply is also addressed in details. A major concern was to find out the skill acquisition or learning process of the art producing inmates. With an emphasis on the marketing, pricing and social utilization of these artifacts, the focus of the research was to find out the purpose of the art; whether it is a way to express the sentiments, thoughts and ideas? Or either there are some other factors behind the production of artifacts? In-depth interviews, group discussions, participant observation and self-involvement brought quite diverse findings towards the questions of my research, as well as arouse new questions. Most of the artifacts produced by the inmates are related to the female ornaments and jewelry. The prison art mostly comprises of beads and hard paper work. Recycling of the material is of vital significance in the prison-art. The findings also show that there isn‟t any formal training, education or art activities to teach and promote such efforts. Instead, the learning is informal and is mostly based on need or inspiration. Answering to the question of social utilization, research found that these artifacts are purchased by the captives to gift to both inmates and outsiders, to strengthen their ties, to express their love, care and remembrance. Moving to the purpose of the art, the answer is quite bitter that the art behind the bars is an art to fulfill the daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly expenses and that mostly the inmates produce the art to earn and to be paid mostly inside the prison. We need to focus on productivity and innovative yield rather than crime; what they did or didn‟t do is of less interest than what they are doing now. It may not be out-of- place to point out very briefly that prison-art is multifaceted in terms of its benefits, paybacks and welfare. Producers, their families, other captives and prison administration are equal beneficiaries of the art produced behind bars.