The Opaque Citizen

The Opaque Citizen

Video 15:43 mins

Life conceived from within prison walls is distant, claustrophobic in sensation and issues of class are as pertinent in gaol life as it is in broader society.

This short film is a collaboration with an inmate currently serving time at Risdon prison. It is based of a series of recorded conversations that took place in early 2018. These conversations were turned into a script and performed by actors as a dialogue between the citizen and the criminal in an anonymous interview style. This ultimately represents the binary of white collar and blue collar class, which is the main theme of their conversation. The 3D scans are of inmates and cell environments.

The Opaque Citizen is an attempt to gain awareness through its own shortcomings. This is accentuated by playing on the anonymous interview of the criminal persona which is alive and well in our media culture. Why do we look at these people, and how should we look at them? What insights might silenced voices have which we don’t choose to see or understand?

This work was shown by Constance ARI Hobart as part of Dark Mofo 2018

Documentation and Media

https://constanceari.org/The-Pink-Palace

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/australian-artists-and-inmates-collaborate-to-make-works-about-the-reality-of-life-behind-bars

Andrew Harper (2018), ‘SEEING THE BIG PICTURE’, TasWeekend, The Mercury, 22 December 2018, p. 21

Andrew Harper (2018), ‘Travails of jail’, TasWeekend, The Mercury, 16 June 2018, p. 21

Kane Young (2018) ‘Glimpse inside the Pink Palace’, The Mercury, 8 June 2018, p. 5