Identifying marks (series of 5): Charcoal and fly wire on plywood
Each 30x20cm
1.112: pickpocketing
2.1460: assault & robbery
3.53: stealing – notorious offender 4.1461: no visible means of support 5.3836: stealing and 16 other convictions
These drawings are of the dresses worn in the identity photos of five prisoners taken on their admission to Darlinghurst. The wire overlay refers to the plain black prison dress worn by women prisoners and described by one contemporary reformer as an ‘added degradation’. The women wore ‘black, shapeless dresses, with small tight bonnets to protect and hide their hair which was frequently cut short as a hygiene measure’ (Beck 45).
The titles are the women’s prison numbers followed by notes from their record sheets.