Cruel and Unusual

Sirius Arts Centre, The Old Yacht Club, Lower Rd, Cobh, Co. Cork
Dates: 13 June-7 Jul
Opening hours: Wed-Fri 11am-1pm & 2pm-5pm
Sat-Sun 2pm-5pm / Mon-Tue Closed

Worldwide, prisons are ‘home’ to more than 9 million people, and their numbers will only increase over the coming decades.  But what do our various societies seek to accomplish by locking up such massive numbers of offenders? CRUEL AND UNUSUAL is a collection of revealing and quite unexpected photography illustrating life behind bars. The exhibition looks at the ways the prison system is presented in images and how these images are created, distributed and consumed. The exhibition was initially premiered at Noorderlicht Gallery in Groningen, NL.

Photographers: Alyse Emdur, Amy Elkins, Araminita De Clermont, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Christiane Feser, Jane Lindsay, Nathalie Mohdjer, Deborah Luster, Lizzie Sadin, Yana Payusova and Lori Waselchuk.
Curated by Pete Brook and Hester Keijser.

Special guest talk with exhibition co-curator, Hester Keijser, at 2pm Sat 22 June.
Admission Free

Presented by Sirius Arts Centre, in partnership with Cork County Council, The Arts Council, Noorderlicht and Cork Midsummer Festival.
Image credit: Araminta De Clermont, ‘The Twins, Bless and Kojak’.