Artist & Curator Talk // Elizabeth Day with Ann Finegan

Hear from artist Elizabeth Day and Curator Ann Finegan on major survey exhibition The Fragility of Goodness: The Prison on the Landscape and Other Stories.

All welcome, RSVP essential

Elizabeth Day’s survey exhibition at BRAG examines the legacy of Empire and the colonisation of Australia and its First Nations peoples. The exhibition focuses on the lasting impact of colonial prison systems and how these institutions reshaped both landscape and society.

The project connects closely to Bathurst’s history as part of a network of colonial prison towns established west of the Blue Mountains. Day has explored these themes in earlier works: in 2023, she presented There’s a Reason Beyond a Reason, 1797 Parramatta Gaol at The National 4 at Carriageworks, Redfern. This large-scale textile installation was made from unravelled second-hand garments and referenced early colonial prison architecture. Through the slow process of unravelling fabric, the work suggested the possibility of undoing the prison’s imprint on the landscape.