Some of Barbados??? most historic landmarks, ranging from the Lion at Gun Hill, the St. James Parish Church, Codrington College and Sunbury Plantation House, have been captured on canvas by prisoners at HMP Dodds in their 2015 calendar.
A set of the calendars were presented to Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Adriel Brathwaite, by Librarian at HMP Dodds, Janet Lewis, and Chief Executive Officer of Ansa MaCal, Nicholas Mouttet, at his office recently.
After looking through the calendars, which also contain depictions of some of Barbados??? more popular spots like Accra Beach, Christ Church and Bathsheba in St. Joseph, Mr. Brathwaite indicated that there was a need to find ways to get the prisoners??? art work on show and for sale.
He said that while Government provided the opportunity for the inmates to learn art, they should not be exploited and should therefore be allowed to enjoy the benefits from their creations in some way.??Mr. Brathwaite stressed that he was ???sold??? on developing a project to expose the art.
Ms. Lewis explained that the creations were done by inmates from various sections of the prison, including maximum security, the remand and female units, and involved the use of images copied from photographs and books.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mouttet, whose company sponsored the production of the calendars, said it was his company???s intention to get more support for the rehabilitation project. ???We need to get corporate Barbados on board,??? he said, noting it would be good if the work could be displayed in office across Barbados.
Four thousand copies of the calendar were printed last year, and that figure has increased to 6,000 this year. In addition, inmates are already working on artwork to coincide with Barbados??? 50th anniversary of Independence next year.
julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb