in the absence of justice...

Triarchy Press is sponsoring 'in the absence of justice...' because our general ethos sees art as an integral part of the practice of intellectual enquiry. While we wish to show our love of and support for beautiful images, we believe the visual arts do more than merely reflect our world back at us: by inspiring and provoking critical responses, they affect the issues that confront us.

Unlike those directly involved in civil and human rights, our publications are about organizations. Organization involves people working with a common purpose. A family is an organization. So too is a government. Even the society in which we live is, at the very least, an organization in process. It is people who run organizations and organizations that serve people. But to understand organizations we need to question them. Questioning and taking responsibility is where our own work intersects with that of the artist, for, in speaking the unspoken, Romain's encapsulation of the alien 'other' reflects back our more familiar collective 'self'. That mirror image exposes previously undisturbed, but deeply disturbing questions about our common behaviours within the very perimeter fence of the organizations in which we work. It may be painful to access the returns on repression in our own lives but through Romain's work, Triarchy asks whether the irresponsibility shown in the negative attitudes projected onto asylum seekers and migrant workers is reflected in our own workplaces.

The words 'asylum seeker' and 'migrant worker' signal acts of organised scapegoating. There is an interesting correlation between scapegoating on a governmental scale and the more localised instanses of whistle-blowers and bullies in the workplace. Triarchy Press is now debating the existence of the shadow organization - asking whether the only difference is one of degree. The narrative of shame expressed in Romain's work allows us to question justice in, as well as beyond, organizations. As yet, this is seen as if through a glass darkly.