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Whatsapp Australian drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran, one of the so-called 'Bali Nine' gang, paints on a canvas at a prisoners studio in Kerobokan prison

Last week Bali Nine drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran learned that he would not receive a pardon from Indonesia’s president. Australian artist Ben Quilty considers Sukumaran his friend and protégé, and told Hamish Macdonald about his strange meeting with the death row inmate and his incredible artistic talent, writes James Bourne.

Myuran Sukumaran is one of only two members of the Bali Nine remaining on death row, after he was convicted for trying to smuggle drugs from Bali to Australia in 2005. He has spent nearly a third of his life in prison.

No matter what happens, this shows the power of art, which I didn’t get until I spent time with this man on death row in Kerobokan prison.

Ben Quilty has been his mentor since 2012, helping Sukumaran develop a talent for painting portraits that will see him earn a fine arts degree by the end of this year—if he's still alive.

The award-winning Australian painter was emailed by Sukumaran’s Melbourne barrister in early 2012. The convicted drug smuggler wanted to learn how to paint ‘thick’.

Quilty sent a response immediately and asked if he could visit Bali’s Kerobokan prison to both teach Sukumaran how to paint and to paint his portrait.

‘I can’t think of a young man with more a powerful background, life experience and darkness. All the things I’ve been working on with masculinity for so long.’ Quilty told RN Breakfast.

‘I was so intrigued and bewildered by Myuran’s predicament and by this outreach—this search for the answers to the most basic technical questions—that I wrote back straight away and said I was very interested to help.’

Quilty first went to Kerobokan prison in 2012 and Sukumaran's talent was immediately obvious to him.

‘I was dubious—everyone says, “Yeah, I’m an artist,” but when I sat down Myuran instantly I saw that he had a real facility. He knew how to draw.’

Related: The death penalty in Asia

‘But he’d been in prison at that time for eight years so he’d had no training, no art books. Someone in Bali was supporting him by giving him magazines—he was tearing pages out of the Women’s Weekly and copying those photographs.’

‘The first thing I asked Myuran was, “Why are you doing this?” He said, “I think that people would be interested in these people as subjects.” And I said, “Myuran, I’m far more interested in you as a subject. Turn the mirror on yourself and I think that will be a very profound way in.”

Quilty then painted Sukumaran and asked him to do some self portraits. By the end of the first visit Quilty had set his new charge a task—one small self portrait every day for 14 days.

He painted 28 self portraits in that fortnight.

After travelling to Bali consistently over the past three years to see Sukumaran and help him paint, Quilty now considers the death row inmate a friend.

‘As all stereotypes fall away, Myuran has done a horrible thing—but that’s a long time ago,’ Quilty said.

‘He’s a very quiet, very big, very well respected man in the prison. He helps run a very tight ship with his art room.’

‘He’s my friend. He’s a profoundly powerful person. No matter what happens, this shows the power of art, which I didn’t get until I spent time with this man on death row in Kerobokan prison.’

Related: Ben Quilty on Conversations with Richard Fidler

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has confirmed that clemency will not be granted to Sukumaran. Quilty is flying to Bali today and is not sure if it will be the last time he’ll see his friend alive.

‘Up until his last clemency rejection, I hadn’t really thought out this part of the friendship,’ he said.

‘The last time I sat with him he got quite emotional. He wiped away tears. But he doesn’t have time to wallow in self pity.’

‘So I go there and I don’t steer the conversation in that direction and neither does he—he’s so hungry to make [art].’

If he lives until the end of 2015, Sukumaran will complete his bachelor of fine arts through Monash University. Quilty said that when he saw Sukumaran’s mother last week she was in tears because the failed bid for clemency meant he wouldn’t be able to finish his degree.

While Quilty seems resigned to the fate of his friend, he hopes that public perception of the prisoner and artist will change in time.

‘I’ve put things on social media about Myuran and how proud I am of him and his entries into the Archibald over the last two years,’ Quilty told Breakfast.

‘It’s funny how much negative feedback I’ve received from that.’

‘But I challenge anyone to sit in front of Myuran, have a conversation with him, and walk away with that same opinion.’

Ben Quilty and Myuran Sukumaran Hear the full interview with artist Ben Quilty on RN Breakfast.

RN Breakfast is the show the nation’s political class wakes up to. Start each day with comprehensive coverage and analysis of national and international events, and interviews with the leaders and thinkers that matter.

