Mural Conservation at Fremantle Prison, Perth

Sharing the ABC news article highlighting our conservation efforts in Fremantle Prison, Perth covered by ABC news.

At Fremantle Prison, WA - World Heritage Site, inmates were invited to paint the walls of their cells over a 140-year period up until the prison’s closure in 1991. This has provided the prison with a unique historical record of life within the prison and adds colour, stories and context to the sombre structure.

In one unique prison cell we encountered a two-fold conservation problem. The mural’s painting was disintegrating fast and peeling from the wall, but also the render which was placed over the top of the limestone walls of the cell was causing damage to the original stone. The prison curators, Olimpia Cullity and Lily Bennion asked our talented conservators to save this historic mural – this meant it needed to come off the walls…

ICS Conservators including Alis Jitarescu and Claire Rowson, were able to remove the painting by covering the painting with a thin layer of gauze, binding the paint together and inch by inch removing the painting. Once freed from the wall the reverse of the painting was cleaned before being attached to a new temporary support.

Read the article full article here >> https://bit.ly/3BkpgMC