A powerful new exhibition honouring resilience, creativity, and healing has opened in Naarm, showcasing the voices and visions of First Nations women impacted by the criminal justice system.

We Sit in Circle, presented in partnership by The Torch and the Queen Victoria Women's Centre (QVWC), is a deeply moving collection of works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women — mothers, aunties, daughters, grandmothers, and sisters — who have experienced incarceration and are using art as a vehicle for storytelling, strength and cultural reconnection.

Curated by Bundjalung artist Sharn Geary and Ngarrindjeri artist Flick Chafer-Smith, the exhibition brings together works by women currently in custody — who are regrouping, reconnecting, and resting before, in time, continuing on their own paths — and those who are now in community.

Curated around the motif of the circle — a space for healing and collective power — the title of the show draws on a spoken word piece by Ms Chafer-Smith, titled 'For we are the Matriarchs'.

"One of the lines was, 'we sit in circle,'" Ms Geary explained. "And when we were approached by QVWC to hold an exhibition over NAIDOC week, we grabbed the opportunity and we grabbed that line, and used that as a basis for this exhibition."

Among the featured artists is Gunaikurnai, Wurundjeri and Bundjalung artist Narnz, who also shares Barkindji heritage through her late husband and father of her children. Her work is rich with cultural memory and personal resilience, with her piece on display, "Freedom with Support," created while she was waiting for parole and reflecting on the power of community and support.

The mother and grandmother says art has been central to her survival.

"It's helped me through some of my very darkest days whilst incarcerated, going through some very deep, traumatic emotions and realisations of life and what my children and I — and my family — have had to endure," she said.

"Sometimes you can't always speak and tell what you've been through. So, to be able to put it in painting helps to express and release that trauma."

The Torch program — a First Nations-led, not-for-profit arts organisation — delivers an Indigenous arts program both in prison and post-release across Victoria. Artists keep 100 per cent of profits from the sale of their work, supporting autonomy and cultural empowerment.

"By doing this, we're hoping to create pathways to self-determine financial decisions and freedom," Ms Geary said.

She sees reclaiming creative space as a profoundly transformative act for Aboriginal women affected by incarceration.

"It instills confidence," she said. "It shows these incredibly talented artists — many of whom have experienced trauma — that someone believes in them and that they can do anything that they want to do.

"That is an incredibly powerful thing to happen, especially when you're in prison."

For Narnz, the opportunity to have her work exhibited is more than artistic achievement — it's a message of visibility and hope.

"I really hope that [visitors] can feel the love, the depth of connection and expression through all these amazing works that are on those walls at the moment and that continue to come out of The Torch," she said.

"And people that are incarcerated and currently in community, I hope they feel there's a light — that we can all come through the struggles at the end of the day."

We Sit in Circle is a testament to the transformative power of art, community, and the enduring spirit of First Nations women.

'We sit in circle' runs until July 18 at Queen Victoria Women's Centre, 210 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Information on the exhibit can be found online.

Narnz's artist page on The Torch can be found online.

More information on The Torch can be found online.