Mark O’Callaghan is a Kurtijar man who has been painting with the Torch since 2015. His arts practice has been a journey of reclamation and has given him the opportunity to learn more about his culture and family. Being a member of the Stolen generation, Mark describes feeling lost, unsure of who he was and

Jack* is an established artist who had experienced a lot of success with his visual arts practice. Unfortunately Jack had been battling some mental health and drug abuse issues over the last couple of years and found himself in prison. He was supported by the Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Worker and Aboriginal Programs staff in

Thelma and Ash, two of The Torch In Community artists, came into the office last week to put together Thank You packs for all of the 331 artists whose works were exhibited in Confined 12 earlier this year. Each year, after the Confined exhibition, The Torch produces a full-colour catalogue of all the artworks in

On Saturday, The Torch staff were excited to go along to the Melbourne Awards as The Torch was a finalist in the Aboriginal Melbourne – Kommargee Ketherba award. They were even more excited when The Torch was announced as the winner of this award! Now in its 19th year, the Melbourne Awards are the City

Wergaia man, Robby Wirramanda – the first person from our In-Prison and In-Community programs to have been employed by The Torch – is moving on after an extraordinary seven year journey. Robby has landed a fantastic full time role at the First Peoples of Millewa Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (FPMMAC) as their Operations Development Officer. Robby

A key component of our program is providing art and cultural support to participants, encouraging a deeper exploration of their cultural identity. Indigenous Arts Officers travel to prisons and to community participants offering this level of support, and providing cultural resources to our artists. The resources can include handmade booklets on the history of their

The Melbourne Art Trams Program returned this year courtesy of RISING and Curator Kimberley Moulton with all designs by First Peoples artists. Wotjobaluk/Gunaikurnai man and The Torch participant Thomas Marks submitted his artwork “Walking on my Father’s Country” and was successfully chosen from close to 60 applications as one of the six works to be

Exactly 10 years ago today, on 1 July 2011, Barkindji man Kent Morris started work for The Torch, appointed to the new role of Statewide Indigenous Arts Officer to deliver the Statewide Indigenous Arts in Prison and Community Program. Kent was tasked with designing, developing and delivering an 18-month pilot program for Indigenous offenders and

Flick Chafer-Smith is a Ngarrindjeri artist and Torch staff member who creates geometric, tessellated paintings inspired from moments in her childhood and stories passed on to her. It is important to me to share my memories with others, and the continuation of knowledge being shared. Painting for Flick is a calming process and she loves

Marbukk is a long-standing participant of The Torch, who has been making art and engaging in the program since 2016. He paints bright and colourful paintings, mostly of the landscape, wildlife and birds of the Mallee. He often paints thickly textured works, such as his Confined 12 artwork ‘Nature and the Land at Work’, which