Arraty Areyel: Looking Straight

This paint­ing was cre­at­ed by for­mer Codes 4 Life Project Offi­cer Wayne Scrut­ton, and is sym­bol­ic of the program’s work. It depicts Abo­rig­i­nal chil­dren (bot­tom), adult men (mid­dle), and Elders (top).

Its sig­nif­i­cance is explained in the words of Man­ag­er Michael Liddle:

The white feet rep­re­sent inno­cence, babies, and chil­dren – who are quick­ly drawn to the vices in the mid­dle cir­cle. It is assumed to be good, but their feet get dirty by walk­ing the track lit­tered with alco­hol, domes­tic vio­lence, incar­cer­a­tion, wel­fare pay­ments, a lack of edu­ca­tion, and an inabil­i­ty to under­stand respon­si­bil­i­ties.

They were once kids; now they are teenagers and young men, and no longer is the road to the cir­cle up the top acces­si­ble. These peo­ple are caught up in ​‘the new cul­ture’. They will no longer have access to, or an under­stand­ing of the knowl­edge that is held by senior law­men in the top cir­cle, which rep­re­sents Elders and their wis­dom, lore, cul­ture and coun­try.

It is so hard for them to get to the top cir­cle because they lack the dis­ci­pline that is required to get there. The cir­cle in the mid­dle is easy and good fun!

No longer is the jour­ney about walk­ing the track to learn about his iden­ti­ty. The learn­ing stops at the mid­dle cir­cle, where all forms of dis­trac­tions drown out the voice of cul­ture, and stop him from learn­ing about iden­ti­ty, about who he is. He has no will­ing­ness to learn because he has lost his way, and is now an indi­vid­ual cre­at­ing his own jour­ney.

Codes 4 Life con­tin­ues to address the many social issues that are hav­ing a neg­a­tive impact on the Abo­rig­i­nal man’s iden­ti­ty; work­ing to recon­nect him with iden­ti­ty, cul­ture and responsibility.