At Cedernine Jennie is bruttally treated. No 1 / At Cains Fair They Return 

Editor: Here we have Henry Darger’s diptych painting, "At Cedernine Jennie is bruttally treated. No 1 / At Cains Fair They Return", rendered with watercolor. It strikes me as unsettling, with these almost dreamlike scenes unfolding side-by-side. What do you see in this piece, especially regarding how the symbols connect? Curator: The power lies in the persistent motifs and the almost cyclical return to certain themes. Darger was an outsider artist, yes, but also deeply invested in a symbolic world that repeats. What visual elements draw your attention the most, whether in their presence or their absence? Editor: I'm drawn to the figures, particularly the children. Their androgynous forms and recurring presence make me wonder if they hold a deeper symbolic weight. Why depict children this way in scenes of apparent violence? Curator: The children can be read as archetypes—eternal figures representing vulnerability, innocence, but also resilience in the face of brutality. Darger, an orphan himself, repeats their images across vast battle scenes; do you believe this repetition provides meaning to his composition? Editor: Possibly! They could represent innocence lost, or a commentary on power dynamics. But the constant return... it almost normalizes it, in a strange way. Curator: Precisely. That is the crux of it. This isn’t just about documenting violence; it’s about the cultural memory and continuity of these images. How trauma is perpetually re-enacted, remembered, re-symbolized. Through watercolor, his art becomes more ghostly. Darger, like an iconographer, preserves the patterns of his past within his painting. What can we carry away after contemplating the cultural power within his cyclical creation? Editor: I see the work more clearly now, this repetition, like ritual. It's unsettling but compelling. Curator: Precisely, and perhaps what we've discovered today is an important interpretation and contemplation.