CAPTIVATE: The National Art School and Darlinghurst Gaol

The National Art School is proud to present CAPTIVATE from 23 September – 30 October, 2022, an original series of exhibitions and programs across campus and a new book of the same title. Together they tell the stories of an extraordinary transformation, as a harsh and dismal prison became a lively, flourishing art school. 

NAS’s origins go back to 1843, but a pivotal moment in its history was in 1922 when it moved into the former Darlinghurst Gaol, a place that since the beginning has been Gadigal land. In 2022, NAS commemorates two significant milestones: 100 years of teaching art on this site, and 200 years since construction began in 1822 on the gaol’s tall sandstone walls, still standing today with their original convict markings. 

During the time Darlinghurst Gaol operated from 1841 to 1914, many thousands of men and women were imprisoned there. Some only stayed a few days, some served a life sentence, and 76 people were hanged. East Sydney Technical College took over the site in 1922 including its art department, which in 1926 was renamed the National Art School. It became Australia’s leading art school and launched the careers of many notable and successful artists, but also spent decades fighting for its survival and freedom to remain independent. 

CAPTIVATE looks behind the walls to reveal the people, places and events that have created such a rich and fascinating history, right up to the present. 

After a call-out for original material to feature in CAPTIVATE, artworks and items from every period of the gaol and art school’s past have flooded in from around Australia. The exhibition will show many treasures in public for the first time: original paintings and drawings by bushranger Captain Starlight; the incredible scrapbook of prisoners’ artwork collected by John Cecil Read, Darlinghurst Gaol governor from 1861 – 1889, as well as his original gun and baton, all donated to NAS by his family this year; and artworks from the School of Design established by the legendary Phyllis Shillito, NAS’s first full-time female teacher. 

Also on show are posters made by students, publicising art school balls to protest marches, including the first poster ever made by pop artist Martin Sharp, and artist Graham Mackie has donated a purple toilet seat awarded as a memorial cricket shield in the NAS Staff vs Students match in 1972. 

NAS Director and CEO Steven Alderton said: ​“CAPTIVATE documents our past that in many ways reflects the story of Sydney, from the gaol built on Gadigal land to an art school that has shaped Australian contemporary practice and now seeks to acknowledge the truths of our history, as a penal institution then a place of education.” 

In February 2022, Aboriginal community members cleansed the campus and buildings over a week-long smoking ceremony to help provide a positive pathway into the future. Alderton said: ​“NAS invites everyone to discover and share our stories, and to develop their own creative inspiration making art on this site, becoming part of our continuing story as a vital cultural hub in the heart of Sydney.”.