One week to go until we launch our major exhibition 'Confined 16’! Featuring 400 artworks by 400 First Nations artists whose lives have been impacted by the criminal legal system, this exhibition provides a dedicated space for First Nations people to share their stories, culture and lived experiences through art. Visit the exhibition from 23 May to 22 June at Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Caulfield. All artwork will be available to buy with 100% of the artwork price going directly to the artist! @gleneiraarts @cityofgleneira (fb)

“I challenged the jury system of Australia. I asked that I be judged by my peers and your peers are your equals. I asked to have some Aboriginal people on my jury. One lawyer said that I wasn’t black enough to be black and the other lawyer said that I wasn’t white enough to be white. They then argued this point in front of me for some time. Both my parents were Aboriginal. It was such an insult to me and my family. I was judged by an all-white jury. I served a life sentence.” – Uncle Gordon Syron A pioneer of political urban art, Worimi and Biripi man Gordon Syron learnt to paint in prison and later told inmates at Bathurst prison that art had saved his life and sanity. His work ‘Judgement by His Peers’, painted in 1978 while serving a life sentence in Long Bay Gaol in Gadigal Nura/Sydney, is part of our current exhibition ‘Blak In-Justice: Incarceration and Resilience’ presented in partnership with @heidemoma. This artwork highlights the bias against First Nations people accused of a crime by showing a white defendant in a courtroom full of black people including a black judge and jury. Syron intentionally reverses the experience of First Nations peoples whose traditional lore, which had been in place for tens of thousands of years, was overridden by British law. Visit the exhibition until 20 July at Heide Museum of Modern Art. Image: Uncle Gordon Syron with his artwork Judgement by His Peers 1978 at the opening event of Blak In-Justice: Incarceration and Resilience 2025, Heide Museum of Modern Art. Photograph: James Morgan (fb)