Independent Educators
Social marginalisation has damaging effects on mental health and leads to feelings of anxiety, sadness, frustration, loneliness and anger. Working against it can be one of the most satisfying jobs, yet teachers and instructors collaborating with minorities and socially vulnerable groups, witnessing their trauma and engaging with it personally are often left alone themselves. Hrefna Lind Lárusdóttir, a Reykjavík based performance artist and art educator who, together with her collaborator Herra Fjord, brings art practises to prisons, says:
“The most marginalised group in the arts are prisoners and former inmates, who have no access to art education at all. There is no cultural offer in the Icelandic prison system.”
In 2020, Hrefna and Herra Fjord initiated weekly meetings for a group of male inmates at Litla-Hraun Prison in Eyrarbakki, with whom they’ve been exploring different art practises: performing, writing, voice work. Múrar Brotnir (Broken Barriers) is the first project of this profile in Iceland, introducing various art practises in prisons. Hrefna and Hera work independently. They not only initiated the collaboration with the detention centre and outlined the principles of the education program for inmates, but also organised the funds to make the project possible.
Somehow, independent artists, activists and enthusiasts are the first to recognize a social issue and act on it long before an institution will engage with the problem. These are the pioneers, reaching out to the marginalised, playing a role of catalyst in social improvement. They need to be supported. For example, when a teacher enters a prison, the isolated world of the inmates where stress is exacerbated by imprisonment, the number of challenges for the instructor extends beyond art education.
There are many ways to help. A comprehensive system of support for independent art teachers could have a form of a network or a trade union, offering psychological assistance, mentoring, and career and funding opportunities. The local communities, public administration and the government should recognise and acknowledge these agents of change: the independent teachers and instructors who, with the help of art, support the most vulnerable and oppressed members of our society.
URB_ART spoke to Hrefna Lind Lárusdóttir, a performance artist and maker, director and teacher, who investigates the boundaries of art forms. In her collaboration Murar Brotnir – Breaking barriers with artist Hera Fjord, prison at Litla Hraun and the Árnes Art Museum in 2020, she created an art studio for the inmates to explore different ways of artistic expression.
Links: Instagram
Read More Urban Art Education Stories
