(Gollum: the slow metamorphosis in prison) 15. kép szörny

Gollum the symbol of detriment effect of the prison setting. This painting which was in the office of a social worker in a Hungarian prison, was made by a Romani (Gypsy) prisoner. Romani prisoners are over-represented in Hungarian prisons. The Romani is the largest ethnic minority in Hungary.

The most controversial character in the Lord of the Rings is undisputedly Gollum. In the story he suddenly finds a ring, and the possession of this ring changes his mind and turns him to a monster. But his older self survives the transformation and the conflict between the two personalities results a special level of consciousness: he becomes dissociative. The ring influenced self is sly and the good one is exhausted. This symbolizes the bipolar question of the inmates: Am I a beast, a target of the society or am I just a fallen angel?

The other quite important aspect of the character of Gollum is his deprivation from his all property, the almighty ring. Prisoners are not only deprived from their liberty in the blocks, but also from their basic needs like sexuality, movement, intimacy etc. The latter deprivations are immanent, it means that these are not described in the legislation word by word, but they are implications of the law. Of course there are compensations in the prison: homosexuality, sex with staff members for sexual deprivation, weight lifting for moving and gangs and drugs for intimacy.

The addiction is also important in the interpretation of the symbol of Gollum. He was severely withdrawn from the ring, and this was the cause of the exhaustion of his Sméagol self. He is a resemblance of a heroin addict.

The most important issue of the Gollum/prison harm similarity is the slow malicious effect of the setting and mental state. Gollum changes in the story almost unnoticeable but later he was hardly recognizable. This is the worst side of the prison: the slow destruction of the mind and body, this is the detriment effect of the prison.

Finally I do not say that the creator of this painting was aware of the above mentioned conclusions, may be he just saw the movie in the television, but I am sure, that he realized the similarity between Gollum and himself.                    

(A lamb with human hands) 14. kép szörny

This picture was made in Balassagyarmat Prison which is a strict regime facility whit a unique shape: the prison was built in the middle of 19. century and has a circle shape. It means that even the corridors in this prison are round-shaped.

This drawing was made for a contest. You can observe a lot of prison symbols on this picture which are seemingly not related directly to the deprivation of liberty.

In the center there is chimera which is a combination of a lamb and four human arms. Two arms are standing in the pink background and the other two arms holding a butterfly and a flower with two butterflies on it. As you can read in this blog for several times I try to find the meaning of these symbols as cultural memes. I did not find any hint on lambs with human hands on the internet, just a musical experience, therefore this chimera is incomparable to to any forms in the mythology.

The hands symbolize the power of the action. In the hindu iconography the goddess Kali wears a skirt formed from human arms. This means the release from the Karma. The release is the most important source of every deed, thought, lesson, teaching, wisdom and suffering in prison setting. Some prisoners feel they were misused by their surroundings and their criminal behavior is the consequence of their fate which was determined by their past, their parents' past, or the society overall. The basic ground of self knowledge in the prison is to face the crime but on the other hand also to face the circumstances which led the inmates to their recent situation. Both experiences are challenging because the inmates can confront and envisage their basic innocence which is symbolized by the lamb. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." In this symbolization the inmates often see themselves as subjects to punishments for the sins of others. After some years in the prison the inmates realize that the control of their fate was not in their hands.

One of the best examples for this realization is the pre-trial detention period for a first offender. The inmate in the outside committed a crime, he was captured by the police, interrogated by officers, defended by lawyers, blamed by prosecutors and finally they are waiting for decision of a judge. But the criminal behavior is not the beginning of his lifespan. He realizes that his family was poor, addicted to drugs or to abusive relationships, therefore he could not enjoy the basic parental care during his childhood. In the larger society, in the school, he became a drop-out because of the bullying, the fights and the small robberies. Street-life demands a strong alliance in which the members are uniformed and they share all the items which they have. They commit a crime together but the others have more money to hire a professional lawyer, they can avoid the prison. These thoughts are coming slowly in the prison, mostly during the sleepless nights. The inmate purifies his mind - if he can survive the prison without drugs - and faces his fate. This is the moment as the need for understanding is born. But also the moment in which the feel of segregation creates.

The lamb above holds a flower which is a symbol of peace and feeds butterflies which are the symbols of change, freedom and the psychology (self-knowledge) itself.

I spoke to a prisoner in the Bochum Prison in Germany who spent more than 30 years in a correctional institute. He said that during the sentence there are stages of facing the challenges:

1. Facing the fate: this is the period of the pretrial detention or a bit longer.

2. Facing the prison system: this the period of habituation to the prison as it is.

3. No way out: this is giving up the hope completely.

4. Expansion of self: this is the breakthrough which comes quietly but also overwhelmingly. Their body stays in the cell but their minds are far away. My interviewee told me that his mind mind was bigger than the Sun and he was sitting between the orbit of Jupiter and Mars. (He was mentally competent completely.)

The painter of this picture is in the first stage.                     

(Lord Ganesh: the remover of obstacles) 13. kép szörny

I found this picture in the Tököl juvenile prison in which mainly juvenile prisoners are accommodated. It was in a staircase. Lord Ganesh is the remover of obstacles in the Hindu mythology. 

What are the obstacles in prison:

- walls, bars, doors, wires which limit the movement of the inmates

- handcuffs, tear-gas sprays, guns which force the inmates to stay where the are also in the case of resistance

- prison staff, they try to keep the inmates in their places with the aim of communication and administration

- other inmates, they make the intimacy and privacy impossible, they hurt each other

Outside of the prison:

- family members: they can influence the inmate's behavior without their presence

- lawyers, prosecutors, judges: they make decisions on the prisoner's life

So it is useful to worship Ganesha in the prison setting.

Hungary is mostly a christian country, hindu people are not inhabited. However the biggest ethnic minority, the Romani roots in India. To express the core of the identity in the prison is always a protest against the power.
   

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(Alien twins on a prison drawing) 10. kép szörny

I found this picture in the Szeged prison. Two aliens are fighting or just jumping next to each other. Note the other duplications on the picture as well: the two scorpions at the bottom an the two moons on the top. The alien monsters are the symbols of the invincibility, flexibility but also the moral justice. In the original movie Alien, the specie killed all the astronauts with moral failures, only Ripley survived. If we face such kind of urge in an inmate redoubled we can guess that he is a murderer. Which might be possible, because this picture was made in the Szeged prison where the long sentenced prisoners are held in Hungary.     

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(Anya két gyermekével) 8. kép szörny

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Traumatizáció a szörnyűségekről szóló börtönrajzokon

A fogvatartottak a börtönben számos tényező miatt élhetnek át pszichotraumát, azaz olyan élményt, ami az egész későbbi életüket alapvetően fogja befolyásolni. Ez a traumatizáció gyakran retraumatizáció, azaz a traumával való újbóli szembesülés. Ennek is számos oka lehet:

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Sajnos ennek a képnek sem ismerem a pontos eredetét,

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Itt nem vagy nem csak a "szörny" jelenik meg, hanem az is, hogy valami nagyon "szörnyű" dolog történt. Majd a jövőben több kifejezett szörnyábrázolást fogok feltölteni, azonban fontosnak tartom, hogy a szörny nem feltétlenül a bestiát jelenti csupán, hanem a traumát vagy a PTSD-t is. 

A szörny témájú rajzokban végtére is a szembesülési képtelenség dolgozódik fel. Persze ez csak hipotézis, és csak a börtönre vonatkozik.

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V. S. Ramachandran és William Hirstein agykutatók szerint a művészeti élmény nyolc törvénye a következő:

Szörnyek a börtönrajzokon

A projekt nem áll le. 115 képet raktam fel szexuális deprivációval kapcsolatban, és érkezett is néhány komment, de természetesen várok még.
Új témát nyitok, és ezek a szörnyek lesznek. Most éppen arra gondoltam, hogy az első - rendkívül döbbenetes - rajz alá írok egy kisebb elemzést is, és majd szépen lassan teszem közzé a többi rajzot.

Guerilla marketing

Nagyon kíváncsi vagyok a véleményekre a képekkel kapcsolatban.

Látogatók

Örömmel jelentem, hogy a blog párhetes üzemelése óta az ELTE és a Szegedi Tudományegyetem gépeiről nézték meg leggyakrabban ezt a blogot!

Első benyomások: A képek értékelése eddig három csoporttal...

... rendkívül tanulságos volt.