Haurongo: Thompson, Pauline Adele

Pauline Thompson based her ‘Judgement’ series (1987, 1989) on a radio play about a group of Russian soldiers trapped in a basement in Poland during the Second World War who were eventually forced by starvation to draw straws to decide who would be eaten. When they were finally rescued, the surviving soldiers were executed for cannibalism. Thompson stayed up for three days and nights painting the series, fuelled by strong emotions brought on by the recent break-up of her marriage.