RG-05: ward

WARD is an archival collage project that examines how the modern state sees, classifies, and “protects” bodies. Using imagery drawn from the National Archives and related institutional records—war documentation, nuclear research, medical infrastructure, governance, and public administration—the work explores the shared visual grammar beneath these domains: vigilance, custody, risk management, and containment. Rather than presenting a single argument, the project holds a tension: protection and control often appear identical, and care can function as an instrument of power. WARD asks what it means to be “held” by systems that must first define us as vulnerable, manageable, or expendable.