2 minute read
Making little Tanya proud: a not so normal career
Honestly changing the system
Activist. Artist. Author. Changemaker. Damien Linnane has worn many hats and achieved many things in his life. He wrote his debut novel, Scarred, by hand while serving a two-year prison sentence. And since his release, Damien has completed a Master of Information Studies through Charles Sturt, and built a career as an archivist, illustrator, freelance writer and podcaster, all while advocating for incarcerated people.
Not everyone can say they had their career path confirmed while in prison, but Damien Linnane isn’t just anyone. Working as a combat medic in the Army Reserves for five years, Damien commenced a psychology degree only to realise halfway through he didn’t want to make a career out of it. Although he completed the degree, he wasn’t sure what to do next, so he consulted a careers counsellor where he completed an in-depth job aptitude test. “Two positions came up. Librarian and archivist. That was a surprise to me until I realised that I love the concept of free knowledge and helping people find reliable information.” And as fate would have it, when Damien was sent to prison for crimes described as ‘vigilante action’, his first job was as a library assistant. “I already had an inkling, but prison actually confirmed that I do like working in libraries. I couldn’t study online in prison, so when I got out I did information studies specialising in records and archive management.” Today, Damien is an archivist for Miromaa Aboriginal Language and Technology Centre in Newcastle where he spends his days cataloguing and digitizing rare books. When not in a library, Damien can be found working on his podcast commissioned by Newcastle Libraries, Broken Chains, editing the prison journal Paper Chained, and creating photorealistic portraits which is a skill he taught himself in prison. “Life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you react to it. A lot of opportunities have come about because I’m open about my prison experience. I wanted to have an art exhibition drawing former prisoners to try and break the stigma of the prison system. One of the people I drew was Earlonne Woods, the co-host of the podcast Ear Hustle. That led to me being asked by Penguin Books to illustrate their book, This is Ear Hustle. “I take every opportunity to get the word out and share people’s stories about the prison system because I think one of the reasons things don’t change is people aren’t aware what’s going on in there. The word is getting out with things like Ear Hustle, and we’re slowly humanising things but I want to do what I can to spread the word. “I actually see prison as a very positive part of my life. Before I went in, I was working three jobs I hated and doing a degree that was going nowhere. Now I have a career I’m happy with and I am giving people a voice, and all these opportunities have come my way just by being open and honest about what happened.”
