DENIED is a research-led portrait project by Brisbane based artist Sky Parra that responds to miscarriages of justice through a series of intimate oil paintings.

Since its inception in 2021, Parra has travelled across Australia painting individuals who have been wrongfully convicted of serious crimes and justice advocates seeking reform. In consultation with these communities, she works collaboratively with participants to build meaningful relationships that inform her practice. With the support of leading legal scholar Dr Robert Moles and her research team, Parra’s portraits serve as poignant testimonies to the existence of wrongful conviction.

In Australia, convicted felons face profound restrictions: the loss of fundamental human rights, prohibitions on interviews by researchers and journalists, systemic censorship, and enduring visual records that permanently mark them as unlawful. They remain subject to discrimination that is not only socially accepted but legally permissible, perpetuating cycles of subjugation. DENIED acknowledges these individuals who, despite being extensively documented, remain overlooked, vulnerable, and unjustly tethered to criminality. Undermining the prevailing ideologies of incarceration, these portraits urge viewers to critically reflect on state-sanctioned systems that shape perceptions of guilt, innocence, and human worth.

Images are powerful conduits of knowledge and essential tools for recollection that influence how we understand the past and engage with the present. Visual archives, as repositories of imagery, determine which histories are recorded, how they are accessed, and the ways in which they are remembered. Institutions of governance and authority, such as prisons and museums, control these archives, ultimately deciding whose stories are told and whose humanity is recognised. While prisons reduce individuals to criminal labels, museums curate narratives of value through selective preservation, often sidelining or erasing the voices of minorities. DENIED bridges this gap, acting as a counter-memorial to institutional erasure. By preserving the complex humanity of its subjects, the project challenges the criminal profiles perpetuated by news media, political rhetoric, and cultural representation.

Through the humanising agency of painting, Parra sensitively renders each sitter visible, restoring dignity and providing a platform to those whose identities and stories have been systemically marginalised. The project emphasises the importance of collective witnessing. By unifying our understanding and awareness of wrongful convictions, DENIED fosters an act of solidarity that disrupts passive spectatorship.

Encompassing cases of factual innocence and erroneous convictions, DENIED acknowledges individuals who have been exonerated, acquitted, or who maintain their innocence in relation to the crime where substantial supporting evidence has been published. While some have been released or granted parole, many remain incarcerated, enduring the shortcomings of our legal system. As the subjects of DENIED continue to grow, the project stands as a visual testament to both resilience and grace.