Wednesday 24 September 2014

Shared Anxiety

These images were shared on Facebook on the same day. The explosion at a chemical factory in Donetsk, Ukraine captured by my friend Mykhailo Glubokyi and my sister's half sister Julie's images of her schizophrenic son's living conditions to highlight the failing mental health services and her deep anxiety for his wellbeing.
Explosion at chemical factory, Donetsk, Ukraine © Mykhailo Glubokyi 2014
Explosion at chemical factory, Donetsk, Ukraine © Mykhailo Glubokyi 2014

Son's Living Conditions #1© Julie Goodall

Son's Living Conditions #2© Julie Goodall

Son's Living Conditions #3 © Julie Goodall

Sunday 21 September 2014

Participation and Observation


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

Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014
Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014
Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014

Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014

Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 2014
Image_, from series © Richard Ansett 201

Friday 12 September 2014

Washing Rituals

Washing Rituals, The Ganges, Varanasi, India © Richard Ansett 2007

Detail from Washing Rituals, The Ganges, Varanasi, India © Richard Ansett 2014

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Union Jack

Image_0277, Skegness, UK © Richard Ansett 2014

Detail from image_0277, Skegness, UK © Richard Ansett 2014

Monday 8 September 2014

CCTV

Image_4774_from series 'The Other Room, 2014' © Richard Ansett

Detail from image_4774_from series 'The Other Room, 2014 © Richard Ansett