Lockdown: art, justice, and the prison system
A lecture by the acclaimed US artist and activist Dread Scott, followed by a conversation with Sydney-based scholar, writer and creative practitioner Latoya Aroha Rule.
Please join us for a lecture by the acclaimed US artist and activist Dread Scott. The lecture will focus on his artwork Lockdown (2000, 2026), a photography and interview project that tells the story of the US prison system through the words and images of the people it imprisons. The work is currently on display at the Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of the 2026 Biennale of Sydney.
Co-presented with Artspace
People
Dread Scott
Dread Scott is an interdisciplinary artist whose art encourages viewers to re-examine ideals of American society. In 1989, the US Senate outlawed his artwork and President Bush declared it “disgraceful” because of its transgressive use of the American flag. His artwork, The All African People’s Consulate (2024) was included in the Venice Biennial. His work has been included in exhibitions at MoMA PS1, the Walker Art Center, Cristin Tierney Gallery and is in the collection of the Whitney Museum, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The National Gallery of Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was a 2023 Rome Prize Fellow and has also received fellowships from John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and United States Artists.
Latoya Aroha Rule
Latoya Aroha Rule descends from Wiradjuri - First Nations & Te Ātiawa/ Māori peoples and is a researcher, writer, and creative practitioner working at the intersection of justice reform, institutional accountability and human rights on Gadigal Nura/ Sydney, Australia. Latoya is a Research Fellow at the UTS Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, and has led state and national reform initiatives addressing deaths in custody, state violence and oversight failures through creative, artistic, sound, protest and academic means.