These repeated recreations of an historic state
sponsored punishment, imply a democratic action fairly meted
out to any of those that challenge the status quo. However, the unknown emotional
response to the exact same action is unique in each of us; it will have an equally
specific and chaotic influence on the ‘potential adult’ (both of the punished
and the observer).
These now archaic techniques designed to control the majority
at the expense of the individual, which are still a memory in a significant majority, ignore the complex issues of the child, recognised and accepted now as a catalyst for potentially disruptive and self-harming behavior.
The act of forcibly removing the individual
as punishment from the ‘collective’, is a different lesson for the observing society. By
facing away from the group, the relative identity of the perpetrator is
compromised and the group’s empathic observation becomes a constant arbiter of future behavior i.e. the memory of the punished child is a 'check' on our own potential future behaviour.
Our complicity in the
humiliation of the one, is carried forward as a betrayal of self and guilt in the
emotional memory. The observers' potential is more damaged than the participant.
The boys in these images were dealing with complex behavioural issues that had led to conflict and in some cases to the brink of permanent exclusion. Many thanks to the boys and their families.
“You
begin to see life through the framework of exclusion. Through the negation of
the child (sic), a world of possibility is shut down.” – Indra Adnan
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| Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014 |
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| Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014 |
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| Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014 |
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| Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014 |
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| Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014 |
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| Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 201 |
