ZAGREB, February 17, 2020 – After successfully implementing the projects “Exemplary Penitentiary” at the Požega Penitentiary and “Art Revitalisation of the Prison Space” at the Zagreb Prison, the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) has announced the start of the project “The Horizon of Freedom” at the Glina Penitentiary and the Zagreb Prison Hospital.
At the Glina Penitentiary the prisoners and artists will paint a joint mural, and there will also be art workshops for prisoners. Two art interventions are planned for the Zagreb Prison Hospital as well.
Previous projects have shown that art has a truly transformative power. It contributes to creating a new, more humane, supporting and nurturing environment, it creates conditions for developing awareness, responsibility and empathy in prisoners, and it helps them to develop skills and live a more meaningful and productive life, the HDLU reports.
The project “The Horizon of Freedom” has a similar aim – to continue with the artistic and therapeutic practice of intervention within the Croatian prison system, with emphasis on the aestheticization of the prisoners’ living space and the work space of prison officers, as well as on involving prisoners in the creative process and discussions about art, changes in space and in the individual inhabiting that space.
The project “The Horizon of Freedom” by Melinda Šefčić was selected through a public tender by the Ministry of Justice and will be financed with 200,000 kuna. The accompanying research will be done by Anita Jandrić Nišević and Melinda Šefčić.
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