Stephen Dupont

Raskols

Stephen Dupont

Raskols

Date

2006

Edition Size

15

Media

Photo

Binding

Accordion

Format

Artist Book

Dimensions

24 × 20 × 3 in

Location

Papua New Guinea

$ 35,000.00

Unavailable


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State Library of Queensland, Australian Library of Art

Limited edition of 15. Each book is slightly different and unique. C prints with hand-scratched lettering and illustrations. Accordion-bound with metal covers.

“Papua New Guinea. A land of striking beauty, mountain ranges, lush rainforests and some of the most spectacular coastlines on earth. A land of eight hundred tribes and languages. A land with incredible natural wealth and resources, where security has become the country’s biggest growth industry.

Raskols are Papua New Guinean criminal gang members. Men and children driven by ‘poverty’ and massive unemployment have turned to crime, violence and tribal conflict allegedly to protect the future of themselves and their communities. It is survival of the fittest, steal from those who have it and distribute to those who have nothing at all.

The raskols emulate American gang culture through their music, dress sense and love of guns. But unlike in America, where guns are readily available over the counter, here they steal them from the police and army, or more famously build their own at home.

The photographs attempt to document the individuals behind the facelessness of gang warfare.”
— Stephen Dupont

In 2004, Dupont infiltrated a ‘Raskol’ community. The resulting series presents formal portraits of the ‘Kips Kaboni‘ or ‘Red Devils,’ Papua New Guinea’s longest-standing Raskol group. Raskols focuses on Papua New Guinean youth in crisis: men that have turned to crime, violence, and anarchy in a bid to protect their future.