Once a Boy is a series of paintings that explores the lost tradition of a boy’s initiation into manhood through masculine rites and rituals. The images from this series are taken from an old shooting manual once owned by my grandfather, who used it to teach my uncle about responsibility surrounding guns. I started this project as a young man in my twenties, when I reflected on my own upbringing and started to question the blurry lines that separate boyhood innocence from adult responsibility. In my own approach I try and look at the gun as a “ritual right” similar to the times when boys where allowed to leave the safety of the tribe and go with their fathers to hunt and gather.
To read more of the artist go to hypertextmag.com/2016/02/19/once-a-boy-paintings-by-sherman-finch/
