Painting titled "Colebrook Home : The Stolen Generation" by Jacob Stengle
Colebrook Home:
“Colebrook home: the Stolen Generation” is a painting by Jacob Stengle. Jacob Stengle was born in Renmark, South Australia. He was a Ngarrindjeri man, he painted this very powerful image of children in Colebrook Home which was an institute established in 1927, for Aboriginal children who had been removed from their original families.
The subject matter in this painting is two children who have been separated from their mother and are in the care of Colebrook Home. Their mother is in the background and the children are in the foreground, they are separated by a distinct cross, implicating the influential division by the Christian church.
Stengle presents a comprehensive theme in his painting Colebrook Home. He clearly indicates the theme to be ‘The Stolen Generation’, seeing that there is evidence in the painting of children who were taken away from their mother and the impact of it on both the Stolen Generation and the mothers.
In Colebrook Home the background image is of the girl’s aboriginal mother who is the ghostly image in the background. She is saddened as she wonders about what might have been of her two young children. The faint image of her two children are looking up to her which gives a sense of confusion in the children, but can also describe what the mother thinks her children somewhere are feeling, confused and lost like she is without them.
The atmosphere created with the honest background image is sadness, loneliness and a weakening connection from the mother to the children. The emotions presented on the mothers face contribute to the feeling of sadness and loneliness within the mother, she is upset and mystified. Her position in the background is nearly isolated showing she is feeling alone and secluded from her children which are a mother’s world. One element that explains the mothers connection with her world is getting weaker is the drifting away of her ghostly image. This can let a sense of disappearing and heartfelt effect into the painting.
The foreground image is of two children who have been forcefully removed from their mother and have been put under the care of Colebrook home for Aboriginal children. The children who are standing at the demanding position in the painting are dressed in blue uniforms, also suggesting how categorically obsessed the Europeans were, these uniforms seem to not fit them and look uncomfortable as factors such as their body language, emotions and position all suggest that. The atmosphere created by the children’s body language implies that under the ‘care’ of Colebrook Home they feel out of place and awkward in that environment, they are uncertain and lost to where they are and are certainly confused, with where they are, what their wearing, the language spoken and the atmosphere around them. Along with their body language, the children’s facial expressions prove the feeling of confusion. These children have lost the connection with their culture and definitly needs their mother, since it looks like they are not being cared for properly. The girls look uncomfortably skinny, unhealthy, telling us that they are being fed an inadequate diet.
In this painting, Stengle has separated the Background images and foreground images with an overpowering Christian cross, in the centre. The symbolism here is the church policy that subsequently made what we know as “the Stolen Generation”. The policy was that any Aboriginal half-castes, so children with any other blood than that of an Aborigines could be taken away from their families so they then could be bought up in a white community. Many Aboriginal people were affected by the removal of their culture and identity as an Australian Aboriginal person. The point of the cross being there to separate the mother from her children is to show the great impact this policy had on both the children and their families.
A factor contributing to the connection of the background image is the expressions of wonder on the mothers face and her ‘imagination’ of what she remembers or what she wishes of her daughters, who are at the centre of the image all grown up. This comparison show that these girls have lost their family, culture and identity as both the distant image of the children and the real image of them are very different.
Stengle has used a variety of visual elements to acquire the audience’s attention on his them, The Stolen Generation. The visual elements of Colour, layout and balance in Colebrook Home are used for effective compositions. He has based the colours around blue, the value of the blue is lighter then dark, blue used symbolises peace, trust and security which can be put off by the characters body language. It can also symbolise depression and coldness which identifies the effect on the Stolen Generation, after. The layout of the characters in the painting creates an atmosphere of separation, disconnection and negative impacts. The position of the children show that they are the ones mostly impacted by the removal from their families and lost identities. Connected with this is balance, a larger object generally weighs more than a smaller object, therefore the children being the centre, at demand, make the audience feel as if most confusion, pain and awkwardness is on their shoulders.
Jacob Stengle painted Colebrook Home, in order to present the issue of the stolen generation. He wanted people to know the truth, cause and effect. Colebrook Home is a powerful and honest painting that is evidence of the impact of the policy that made The Stolen Generation.
The subject matter in this painting is two children who have been separated from their mother and are in the care of Colebrook Home. Their mother is in the background and the children are in the foreground, they are separated by a distinct cross, implicating the influential division by the Christian church.
Stengle presents a comprehensive theme in his painting Colebrook Home. He clearly indicates the theme to be ‘The Stolen Generation’, seeing that there is evidence in the painting of children who were taken away from their mother and the impact of it on both the Stolen Generation and the mothers.
In Colebrook Home the background image is of the girl’s aboriginal mother who is the ghostly image in the background. She is saddened as she wonders about what might have been of her two young children. The faint image of her two children are looking up to her which gives a sense of confusion in the children, but can also describe what the mother thinks her children somewhere are feeling, confused and lost like she is without them.
The atmosphere created with the honest background image is sadness, loneliness and a weakening connection from the mother to the children. The emotions presented on the mothers face contribute to the feeling of sadness and loneliness within the mother, she is upset and mystified. Her position in the background is nearly isolated showing she is feeling alone and secluded from her children which are a mother’s world. One element that explains the mothers connection with her world is getting weaker is the drifting away of her ghostly image. This can let a sense of disappearing and heartfelt effect into the painting.
The foreground image is of two children who have been forcefully removed from their mother and have been put under the care of Colebrook home for Aboriginal children. The children who are standing at the demanding position in the painting are dressed in blue uniforms, also suggesting how categorically obsessed the Europeans were, these uniforms seem to not fit them and look uncomfortable as factors such as their body language, emotions and position all suggest that. The atmosphere created by the children’s body language implies that under the ‘care’ of Colebrook Home they feel out of place and awkward in that environment, they are uncertain and lost to where they are and are certainly confused, with where they are, what their wearing, the language spoken and the atmosphere around them. Along with their body language, the children’s facial expressions prove the feeling of confusion. These children have lost the connection with their culture and definitly needs their mother, since it looks like they are not being cared for properly. The girls look uncomfortably skinny, unhealthy, telling us that they are being fed an inadequate diet.
In this painting, Stengle has separated the Background images and foreground images with an overpowering Christian cross, in the centre. The symbolism here is the church policy that subsequently made what we know as “the Stolen Generation”. The policy was that any Aboriginal half-castes, so children with any other blood than that of an Aborigines could be taken away from their families so they then could be bought up in a white community. Many Aboriginal people were affected by the removal of their culture and identity as an Australian Aboriginal person. The point of the cross being there to separate the mother from her children is to show the great impact this policy had on both the children and their families.
A factor contributing to the connection of the background image is the expressions of wonder on the mothers face and her ‘imagination’ of what she remembers or what she wishes of her daughters, who are at the centre of the image all grown up. This comparison show that these girls have lost their family, culture and identity as both the distant image of the children and the real image of them are very different.
Stengle has used a variety of visual elements to acquire the audience’s attention on his them, The Stolen Generation. The visual elements of Colour, layout and balance in Colebrook Home are used for effective compositions. He has based the colours around blue, the value of the blue is lighter then dark, blue used symbolises peace, trust and security which can be put off by the characters body language. It can also symbolise depression and coldness which identifies the effect on the Stolen Generation, after. The layout of the characters in the painting creates an atmosphere of separation, disconnection and negative impacts. The position of the children show that they are the ones mostly impacted by the removal from their families and lost identities. Connected with this is balance, a larger object generally weighs more than a smaller object, therefore the children being the centre, at demand, make the audience feel as if most confusion, pain and awkwardness is on their shoulders.
Jacob Stengle painted Colebrook Home, in order to present the issue of the stolen generation. He wanted people to know the truth, cause and effect. Colebrook Home is a powerful and honest painting that is evidence of the impact of the policy that made The Stolen Generation.
