Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows tells three stories about Canada’s prison system. It’s produced by the innovative shadow theatre ensemble Illicit Projects and is one of the featured events at this year’s Heart of the City Festival.

Illicit Projects is based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and its Artistic Producer is David Mendes. “Since 2016, we use shadow art, shadow, cinema shadow, puppetry to create. So we use a variety of different lighting, mainly overhead projectors.”

Two of the stories in Incarcerated come from Indigenous people, a group greatly over-represented in Canada’s prison system. “When I first said yes to this project, I thought it wasn't going to be very difficult...but it actually became the most challenging piece I've ever done, mostly because of the two indigenous folks in the show. There's such a large chance of cultural misappropriation but it also led me down some roads that I learned a lot about their cultures."

An archived recording of Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows is available on the Heart of the City Festival's Youtube Channel.