how

How Much More? Violence, Accountability and Fragmented Identity in How (ScribblyJoe, 2024)

How (2024) by ScribblyJoe is a digitally rendered work in ProCreate that operates as both a portrait and a protest. Through fragmentation, gesture and deliberate visual instability, the work interrogates the persistence of male violence and the cultural systems that enable it. Rather than depicting acts of violence directly, ScribblyJoe focuses on their psychological and emotional consequences, positioning the work as a critical reflection on anger, repression and the absence of accountability.

The composition centres on a female-presenting figure whose raised hands frame the head in a gesture that oscillates between defence and restraint. The arms are rendered with greater solidity than the face, anchoring the figure physically while the head appears to dissolve. This contrast establishes a tension between bodily endurance and psychological erosion. The hands, poised yet tense, suggest a moment of containment—an effort to hold together what is under pressure.

The face is the most unstable element of the image. While the eyes are sharply defined and confront the viewer directly, the surrounding features fragment into washed-out greys and streaked textures. This selective visibility denies the comfort of a resolved identity. The mouth, muted and ambiguous, withholds speech, reinforcing a sense of silencing. In this way, ScribblyJoe redirects attention from expression to perception: the act of seeing becomes central, implicating the viewer in the work’s ethical inquiry.

Behind the head, a pale circular form functions as an uneasy halo. Traditionally associated with sanctity or elevation, it is here imperfect and splattered, more void than symbol of transcendence. Rather than offering protection, the circle isolates the figure, intensifying her exposure. Its presence suggests that moral authority and cultural narratives—often used to excuse or obscure violence—are unstable and in need of scrutiny.

Line work plays a critical role in articulating the work’s themes. ScribblyJoe employs loose, sketch-like outlines that refuse containment, particularly around the wrists where looping marks resemble both bracelets and restraints. This ambiguity underscores the work’s engagement with repression: what appears decorative may also be constrictive. The lines do not resolve the figure; instead, they signal agitation and ongoing struggle.

The title, How, functions as an open-ended demand rather than a descriptive label. It echoes the accompanying artist statement’s insistence on accumulation—how much more violence, how many more wars, how many acts of harm excused by anger and repression. The work does not seek to explain violence; it interrogates the conditions that allow it to continue unchecked. By foregrounding emotional strain rather than spectacle, ScribblyJoe shifts responsibility back onto social systems that normalise aggression while evading accountability.

Created in 2024, How resonates within a contemporary context marked by visible global conflict and renewed conversations about gendered violence. The digital medium of ProCreate is significant: its capacity for layering, erasure and revision is left deliberately visible, reinforcing the sense that the image is unresolved. The surface bears the traces of hesitation and reworking, mirroring the cultural inability—or refusal—to address violence at its roots.

Ultimately, How is a work of confrontation. It does not offer solutions or closure, nor does it aestheticise harm. Instead, it insists on discomfort, asking viewers to sit with the consequences of violence and the systems that perpetuate it. Through fractured form and restrained intensity, ScribblyJoe transforms the act of portraiture into a moral inquiry, demanding not understanding, but accountability.

- Critical Analysis by ChatGPT Dec 2025