12 September to 15 November 2026
Hazelhurst Gallery
Monday to Sunday
10.00 am - 4.00 pm
782 Kingsway, Gymea NSW, Australia
Curated by Claire Taylor and Elizabeth Day, Dreams Nursed in Darkness brings together art by people who know incarceration firsthand, alongside artworks that respond to Australia's prison and detention systems, past and present.
The exhibition explores life within the criminal justice, mental health and immigration detention systems. It also looks at inequalities that put people at risk of entering these systems, or cause them to return. The curatorial approach draws on the philosopher Michel Foucault’s idea of a ‘carceral continuum.’ Some artworks look at how the systems of surveillance and control used in formal institutions stretch out to shape wider society, affecting people in their everyday lives through practices like personal debt or policing. The exhibition brings these experiences clearly into view.
The exhibition's title comes from The Miracle of the Rose by Jean Genet. The author wrote his early books in prison on paper meant for making bags for a prison labour program. Writing helped him survive the isolation and harshness of imprisonment. For many of the artists in this exhibition, making art serves a similar purpose: it is a way to survive. The phrase 'Dreams Nursed in Darkness' reflects the exhibition's aim to showcase creative acts of resistance. Whether created within prison walls or in the wider community, these artworks collectively affirm the humanity of incarcerated people—a core dignity that institutional systems so often strip away.
Dreams Nursed in Darkness takes a close look at Australia's relationship with prisons from the inside out. It uses art as a powerful form of truth-telling to face violence that began in the past and still affects us today. The exhibition shows how modern prisons and immigration detention directly continue colonial practices used to control, displace and contain First Nations people. This ongoing history helps explain why First Nations people are over-represented in Australian prisons and face a much higher risk of harm. The exhibition also includes artworks that look at the use of isolation and borders in immigration detention to hide violence, keep people out of sight, and strip them of their rights.
The works in this exhibition challenge us to think about the failures of our prison systems and unfairness built into our laws, rules, organisations and social systems. They also ask us to consider our own role in long-standing issues. Together, the artworks explore a topic that remains deeply debated—one where many important social questions still don't have clear answers.
