Indigenous inmates at Silverwater Correctional Centre provided the following posters and stories for display at the 2009 NCPIC Conference. They represent the inmates’ reflections on how cannabis has affected their lives.

Artwork 1

Artwork 2

The artist is an inmate at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre and produced these artworks for the Conference. The five voices in her head are around the table. The box represents how she feels when she smokes dope: “in a box and unable to get out!” The white dots on her broken heart represent people she has hurt and now regrets hurting. The rain drops are “drops of hope” that she can escape the box and join the world, recover.

Artwork 3

The Aboriginal artist gave the following explanation: “The five voices in my head are around the table with the bong. The red spears represent the anger unleashed, while the blue line is medication which helps to control the anger.”

Artwork 4

The artist gave the following explanation: “The green lizard represents cannabis, it’s slippery and all my troubles slide away. The background represents how I feel with lines going in every direction – unable to figure out where I should be going.”

Artwork 5

Bubunara Black Head:
“Bubunara Black Headed Python brought fire dreaming to the land. This represents a lot under the influence of pot and the triggers of schizophrenia that it has on me. The black head means the poison the pot has caused my brain and my life to choose the wrong pathways to deepen me into a black-hole. The whiteness within an around the python represents the light of the good values I do have when I can think straight. With the black and the whiteness as you can see, it delivers a struggle, which you could say is a sickness of the side effects pot has mixed with a mental illness of schizophrenia. The yellow dots represent the sacredness of the important people in my life who did, still and continue to love and care about me, who I have burnt many bridges with. The green is the parts of my life I have done nothing but smoke pot. The red and brown parts represent all the hurt, anger and pain with all the mixed emotions I feel towards the lives I have damaged in my time. The yellow tail is what brings light to us all, letting me know that you cannot smoke away all your problems. If you help yourself your pain will soon be healed.”

Artwork 6

Artwork 7

“When I’m smoking marijuana I feel like I’m on top of the world but at the same time I feel like I am being eaten by everything and everyone. The world is my problems and they overpower everything.”