Incarcerated women find comfort and hope in art

Women behind bars have found a haven in their creative minds.

Former convict Cornell Willers said she found coping with prison life a challenge and hence sought solace in the Women In Conflict (WIC) project.

In the project, the women are taught to paint, sketch and draw as a rehabilitation.

Willers said in prisons she had to cope with overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, education discrimination, gender inequality, homophobia and more.

Willers, who spent 22 months at Kgosi Mampuru prison, said WIC helped her during that period.

She said in prison rooms one shares with people who are not of the same culture and do not share similar values.

As a part of the LGBTQI+ community, she would get inappropriate comments, especially when her wife visited her.

She said one of her art pieces was a reminder that she has superpowers and there is nothing wrong with being different.

Warden Madile Mogoboya started working with the prisoners on their art to help them “release stress and build themselves up for when they get back to the outside world”.

She said the women always feel free to express themselves around WIC founder Tylor Winfield as she interacts with them.

Winfield said the project was born out of her research into how government institutions can shape people for the better or worse.

“A big part of the project was looking at challenges women face in communities and correctional centres, and their visions of change,” she said.

She said that since women prisoners are often hidden from society, they do not get to share their insights with the public and policymakers and the goal of this project was to give them an opportunity to.

“We chose art-based research because it is a way for women to convey their experiences, expertise, creativity and innovative ideas directly to the public and people who are making decisions.”

Ex-offender Laetitia Koch, who spent 15 years in prison, said she joined because she wanted to help the people who are where she once was.

“I went in more for the education because what I found out in prison is that there are many ladies that never got the opportunity to study or to even read and write.”

Koch said education is one of the important ways to help someone in prison and it is something for them to take with when they get out.

“The enjoyment on the ladies’ faces once they were able to read and write was astonishing.”

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