My latest ‘Amusing ourselves to death’ works.

These new works continue within the broad reach of the ‘Amusing ourselves to death’ suite but now narrow their imagery to the use of plastic soldiers. War toys – playthings calling to mind military life, battlefields, or warfare more broadly speaking – reflecting conflict situations celebrated in play by Kiwi kids, encouraging and reinforcing a triumphant war narrative culturally grounded in movies and television. Whether waged with manufactured toys or do-it-yourself ingenuity, pretend fighting for most of the 20th century orientated children towards a mythical way of war where peaceful but outnumbered good guys faced off against ruthless bad guys, and where violence was justified in validating their virtue.

A commercial militarisation of childhood, conditioning boys to be soldiers and glorifying war, preferencing masculinity, competition, physicality and aggression. Most Kiwi families accepted, or else tolerated war play as some combination of developmentally healthy, patriotic imitation, or simply harmless fun.  Underscoring the significant and often deliberate role of adults in shaping the country’s children through material culture. A generation experiencing divisions through boy/girl, strength/weakness, good/bad, black/white societal conditioning around conflicts.

Our perpetual wars.

Using plastic soldiers as imagery, the ‘Loop of impotency’ takes its title from Neil Postman’s critique of the media’s role in society and the public’s ability to engage with information. Postman argues that the media often presents information in a way that is superficial and lacks depth, leading to a lack of meaningful action. He suggests that that the media’s influence can create a sense of impotence among the public, as they are unable to take action based on the information they receive.  Making the relationship between information and action both abstract and remote.

Click here to check out the other works in the Amusing ourselves to death series.

See the current works in the online store

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You can see these works at : Woodings@Winchester Gallery 155 Temuka-Orari Highway, Winchester 7985 Thursday - Sunday: 10am until 4pm Or reach out directly to info@davidwoodings.com for a private viewing.