The subject matter of photographer, activist and breast cancer survivor Tracey Derrick is often concerned with the outsider, whether it’s refugees, the 1 in 9 women who will develop breast cancer or sex workers. Her exhibition Eye Inside, nine years ago, grew from Derrick wanting to know what it was like to be a woman offender.
Derrick’s acceptance by the now-defunct Malmesbury Women’s Prison was two-part. First, there was the long, six-month wait for the prison authority’s permission to access the prison, and then the acceptance by the inmates themselves. Derrick’s acceptance was orchestrated by a member of the 27s gang.
Each of Derrick’s prison visits was prefaced with the brushing of her wild hair into two “ordentlik” pony tails and the application of henna (in lieu of bottled nail polish) to her fingernails. The price of submitting to this curious, but harmless, ritual was small but its outcome huge, gaining her access to the world of women offenders and their acceptance.
The project lasted a year, during which time Derrick photographed and interviewed willing inmates. It soon became very clear to Derrick that many of the offenders had committed crimes either to protect themselves from ongoing abuse, or simply to put food on the table for their families.
At the end of the year, in recognition of what she had received from the women, Derrick wanted “to give something real and positive back to them”. She explained that there were no rehabilitation programmes for these inmates in 2007. Having coped with cancer through her photographs, she understood the power of using art work as therapy. By sharing her photographic skills in a workshop she hoped to “empower them to become more independent once they re-entered society”.
The outcome was a prison exhibition of black-and-white prints by the women photographers who called themselves “Rough Diamonds”.
So when Khethiwe Cele, director of Young in Prison South Africa (YiPSA), learned of Derrick’s work through an old friend of Derrick’s, Cele had a sense that Derrick was the right fit for the photographic auction. Derrick was approached to source photographers for the auction.
To date, the auction includes the work of 40 photographers – from Zanele Muholi, Omar Badsha, Sue Williamson, Obie Oberholzer, Guy Tillim and Thom Pierce to Mikhael Subotzky and counting. Derrick has been amazed by the photographers’ generosity. Apart from two photographers, all have forfeited the 20 percent rebate offered from sold photographs. The venue for the exhibition and auction space has been donated by Mike Orms of Orms.
Cele interprets the donation of photographs and the space as recognition of both the vital work YiPSA does with youth in conflict with the law and a desire to be part of creating a safer and more inclusive South Africa. David Goldblatt has also endorsed the project. Synchronistically, his current New York exhibition is called “Ex-Offenders”.
The 8-year-old YiPSA has its beginnings in the Young in Prison Foundation initiative. In 2002, a Dutch national interning at Pollsmoor Correctional Centre recognised the same need for empowerment of offenders that Derrick had.
The grim context of youth and crime in SA is illustrated by YiPSA’s annual report.
Currently, almost half our population lives below the poverty line. It’s reported that we have one of the highest prison populations in Africa and 38 percent are youth under 25 years old. The report cites a direct link between crime and poverty (which encompasses not only the material lacks, but poor education and high levels of neglect), with statistics indicating that increases in violent crime are directly related to the increase of poverty and high unemployment.
Of great concern are studies which indicate that most crimes are committed by youth who are at risk because of a lack of education, training and employment. According to development indicators released by the National Planning Commission, 50 percent of youths from 15 to 24 years old are unemployed. South Africa is ranked the third-highest country in the world for unemployment. Even more concerning is the high rate of re-offending youth. At between 60 percent and 80 percent, South Africa has one of the highest re-offending rates in the world.
This high percentage is attributed to a variety of factors, including the difficulty of finding employment because of stigmatisation, a lack of support services, employment opportunity and conflict management.
And, if you remain unmoved by the plight of young offenders, consider the impact it has on your safety and your pocket. It costs the South African taxpayer about R10 000 a month to keep one inmate in prison.
YiPSA offers 3 primary programmes: Rehabilitation in the form of Art Therapy workshops; Reintegration for ex-offenders re-entering society; and Advocacy, for government and communities.
The organisation believes in and practises the notion that everyone deserves a second chance. For many young offenders this means that, for the first time, they’re being treated as human beings by someone who believes in them.
In a moving letter to David Goldblatt, Cele writes about her first awareness of young offenders when working for the Criminal Justice Initiative of the Open Society Foundation. Hearing the stories of how young men she regards “very much my brothers, nephews and cousins” ended up in prison “stirred her in ways she didn’t expect”. She recognised that had their circumstances been different, their lives would have been different.
While Cele writes that fundraising and working with offenders is challenging and may not be as “sexy” as education, gay and lesbian rights, or public health issues, the highlights of YiPSA are inspiring. She cites the young man who can now look one in the eye, the mother who thanks YiPSA for “saving her son”, the post-release participants who are enrolled in colleges and universities, and the four who wrote an award-winning play, Ubuze Bam(My Nakedness).
Currently, YiPSA has reached 2 500 youth offenders with a 65 percent drop in re-offending. Bidding for the YiPSA auction is available in a number of forms: live, telephone and absentee bidding.
l www.facebook.com/yipsaphotoauction, www.younginprison.org.za/photoauction