By Henry Oguchukwu Akano
A version of this article was originally published in Middleton Magazine, the magazine of Loddon Prison, Victoria. It was republished in Issue 17 of Paper Chained in March 2025, while Henry was incarcerated in Victoria.
My name is Henry Ogochukwu Akano. I grew up in a small city of Enugu in the eastern part of Nigeria, West Africa. I arrived in Australia in 2012 after I was admitted to study a Diploma of Business management at Sunshine College of Management in Victoria. I was arrested in 2016 which resulted in my conviction. Whilst I have been domiciled in the custody of Victorian Corrections, I was immensely affected mentally by the strange environment in which I found myself in, which also contributed in me becoming very volatile and to some extent anti-establishment.
In such a dense environment in maximum security, there are too many traumatic and emotional people like I was back in the day. I became a nightmare to both myself and the people around me. It was not until in 2020 when I was restricted at Port Phillip Prison that I had a vision, a trance-like dream of my late father who had encouraged me in the dream to get some will-power and resist the temptation of jail politics and focus on my hidden talent.
I remember vividly painting on a piece of toilet paper the next day after one of the PPP officers refused to lend me A4 paper to practice some sketching in my lone time. I had a need to evolve and find solace with my abject condition and a strong desire to embrace my long time passion as a child, which was to embrace any form of art. However, I chose painting. My first brush stroke on a canvas was in 2020, which was so magical and meaningful to me and which also made me decide that I would never stop painting, no matter what the situation or circumstances. Then again, I am gratefully indebted to some of my Indigenous Aboriginal mates who in their kind-heartedness, supported me with both their great skills in art and also by providing me with some art materials when I was struggling to purchase them. As I write this and think of all their huge benevolence towards me, it fills me with great cheerfulness and utmost respect for them.
Throughout that time until this moment. I have produced more than 250 paintings, some of which I had painted for my fellow prisoners who have also benefited from the skills that I have developed during those hard times. My art embodies the tradition of art-making and each one is crafted with a strong passion to recognise those men and women who have contributed immensely in shaping our world in a more positive way.
My style of painting is called symbolic realism. I sometimes play around with some other styles of painting such as abstraction, surrealism and expressionism.
Art in essence has given me a mental focus, hope, a sense of purpose and tangible rewards. It has given me confidence. It has also helped me to appreciate every individual day which I use to empower my fellow prisoners in believing in themselves as I am very much aware that reaching smaller goals such as painting, writing songs or even reciting poetry would inspire people in prison to have a sense of self-worth and also a sense of tangible rewards, self-development and progress.
I am also titillated and inspired by researching art books at any prison library. Africa has been an artistic centre of great importance. It was through the migration of the Black
Africans that some of the belief and social structures reflected were spread throughout the continent.
As usual, a huge percentage of prisoners are very quick to talk themselves down, judge their actions and also disbelieve that they can reach a much higher goal in life. The truth is that humans are not perfect beings. I will say this to the reader, especially to those people who think that they cannot regain whatever that they have lost due to them being incarcerated, downtrodden or subjugated by the system. I would encourage you to start believing in yourself again because the first brush stroke is hard but the end is rewarding. However, no institution can make you a great man or give you an aim in life, without the integration of your own belief and behaviour.
A huge percentage of celebrities and well known people who have made their marks on the world stage, never made it to the highest level of education, some of them have gone through a lot of traumas in life too. But they only became successful because they have learnt through tough times how to “get their shit together”. What truly matters in life is to “start doing”, and if you can appreciate life and truth, if you can leave bullshit, and leave the world a better place, loving wife, parents or grandchild, to know that one life breathed easier because you lived, then that means you have succeeded as a human being.
Unconditional acceptance of your dreadful situation of being locked up is the first step in opening the door to the miracle of your salvation. To succeed in setting goals for yourself in any prison location, here is my advice:
• You have to be conscious of who you have around you.
• You must be able to identify the job you would like to do as soon as you re-integrate back into the community.
• You need to set a goal, ask yourself, what it is that I want?
• Listen more closely to your thoughts through mindfulness. (Borrow a book in the library on mindfulness)
• Know your value and what you want to achieve after your stay in prison.
• Absorb new information from as many books as possible.
• Shape your perception by having a vision board on your cell walls.
• Avoid the entitlement trap of thinking that the government will always provide you everything you want such as Centrelink, housing and etcetera. (You can acquire those things by setting yourself a small goal in this place)
• The quicker you understand that, you will get things done by yourself, and the better you will start thinking straight.
• Improve your penmanship and talent, such as singing, training, and improving your vocabulary.
• Do not depend on any sort of drug or any other person in prison. You will be in control in setting your goals.
• You can always access the gym or hit the punching bag when feeling frustrated about outside, your girlfriend, dramas or prison politics.
• Always invest your energy into a craft and anything that will benefit your mental wellbeing.
• You can always ask the educational staff to print out some online games such as Ludo or Snakes, and borrow some paints and cardboard box and create the games by yourself.
• Be a friend of all prisoners in the community and ask questions about their cultural heritage, which will give you an inkling about their way of life.
• Never commit yourself to one sport. Give yourself the opportunity to identify with something different such as playing soccer with boys, hitting long or short tennis, chess competition and so on.
• Whenever you find yourself in the slot, which is always a depressing time, train your brain to be stronger than any pessimism that might have infiltrated your spirit.
• Lastly, by becoming positive to yourself and creating something while you are in prison, you have shown that you can make something. You have also shown that you are not just a loser or a dreamer with an idea hoping that someone would someday take a chance on. You have proven that you are an asset who can kick back waiting for the best deal.
There are too many stories I have left untold in this article.
I could write a book on each situation I got myself into but I will leave them for another day. My long-term goal is to continue creating artworks and also use it to empower other prisoners who are on the path of establishing themselves through art. If you are in anyway inspired or impressed by my story, please feel free to reach out to me so that I can help you in any possible way that I can. On Ya Mates!
