Strange Exam Paper Illustration - What Do You See?

Google "children playing" and click images, this picture is the second image shown, As an earlier poster said, it's just a piece of Ben Frost pop art, I think that the exam paper compilers simply looked for an image of children playing to use in the paper, and picked one of the first ones that google threw up.

Originally posted by Cythraul
(I did a search but was surprised not to find this already posted somewhere on ATS - correct me if I'm wrong)


Take a look at this picture... really analyse it, and then share what you see...

Now consider that this is taken from a UK Sociology exam paper provided by awarding body WJEC. The actual paper can be seen here. The question/illustration is on page 10.

I can share what hidden messages I'm aware of in the photo, but it won't take the sharp minds here at ATS long to find them (particularly given the forum that I've posted this in).

I'd like to know who drew this and when. The exam paper credits the illustration to 'toy advertising', but what toy? What company?


EDIT TO ADD: Here is the article which brought this to my attention. It would be great if you could share your own interpretations of the picture before visiting the link.

edit on 15/2/2012 by Cythraul because: To upgrade picture to a clearer one and add a link.

YET another disingenuous OP on a 9/11 thread why didn't you just show the questions from the paper obviously they didn't suit your agenda!!!!!

the qestions were

Look at the following image taken from toy advertising.

Identify one gender stereotype shown in the image.

Explain how the media may socialise children into gender roles.

Originally posted by butcherguy
The girl looks like a chimpanzee...

Ironic that you should say that. Another question in the same exam paper shows a photo of a black kid and describes him as John, the Monkey Boy!

reply to post by Alien44


or it could mean playing with armageddon

Originally posted by torsion
and also here -

Good find! And from last year too. As I mentioned initially, I'm surprised this hasn't cropped up on ATS before... or perhaps it did many years ago.

Originally posted by wmd_2008

YET another disingenuous OP on a 9/11 thread why didn't you just show the questions from the paper obviously they didn't suit your agenda!!!!!

What agenda and how was I disingenuous? The nature of the question in the paper is, as far as I'm concerned, irrelevant to the hidden content of the illustration. That's why I didn't quote it in my OP. I did, however, link to the paper and told people they could find the question on page 10. I wasn't trying to hide anything, I don't have an agenda and I didn't know anything about the origins of the drawing when I started this thread.

People really need to lighten up!

This may be nothing but the rolling up of the boys pants/trousers might hold some significance?

I think in Muslim religion there is something that says their is no prayer for someone who wears their garment below their ankles. But it might have other meanings? Maybe someone here knows?

Good find OP! Finding when this was created, and by whom, would shed more light...

Originally posted by 4hero
This may be nothing but the rolling up of the boys pants/trousers might hold some significance?

The Freemasons!

Admittedly i haven't read the whole thread, i got to page 14.

I collected a whole bunch of links showing the image online, and this is apparently a very well used image. Like a rorschach, we could argue for hours on interpretations, what we can accept is fairly simple:
1. pop art recording 9/11
2. strange "hidden" aspects, like the word armageddon (with 2 D's)
3. some images found have been edited, removing boxcutters from the image seems like a teacher thing to do
4. the artist is confirmed, date is EDIT: October 2001 (Aren't magazines finalised BEFORE publication?)
5. the artist is a sick man (see other art, loaded with sexuality, violence and various perversions)
6. despite the above, the image has been used quite a lot (IMHO) by various EDUCATIONAL institutions

OK, i'm done, but for reference, i leave you with these:

Retort Mag (Sep 2001) as per Pandora

WJEC Sociology exam paper

Ben Frost Artwork

Ben Frost Myspace

Random usage:

Mycharitypage

Bradford Daycare

The Parenting Magazine

Therapy for Speech

Aalan Krist School

Toyloan

Discussion:

The Student Room

The British Resistance

I can only thank MANY posters for the above information, it's not mine. However, all "interpretations" aside, how's this list??!!

:::RESPONSE FROM BEN FROST HIMSELF:::

So I wrote Ben an email after reading this thread since I thought it was too good to be a coincidence. Ben took the time to reply to me and the following is a quote of what he wrote:

Thanks for your email.. I haven't gone over all the comments in the thread on the website as yet.. But a lot of the observations are true. I loaded the image with as many 911 signifiers as possible.. I'll post an explanation of the piece over the weekend onto the site.
Thanks again for bringing this to my attention

Cheers, ben

Sent from my iPhone

My initial email:

> Hi Ben...
>
> Something awkward has arisen in the world of conspiracy. Retort Magazin at some point brought your "Armageddon" work with the two kids playing with blocks and a plane.
> The copyright statement said beneath that it was made in 2001, but there's no precise date attached to it.
> Later the image appeared in some exam paper and that sparked the conspiracy community.
>
> I belong to the camp that says that if the case is that you made this work in 2001 that you probably were inspired by the tragic event in the states. Others claim that you foreshadowed the event and that there are too many coincidences in the artwork:
> -boxcutter
> -plane
> -block towers where one has begun to fall
> -the armageddon text
> -the cut out people
> -the colors of the boys clothes
> -the boy's haircut
>
> People see a lot... but you seem to be the only one that can confirm wether or not there's anything to it.
>
> Thanks for your time.
>

So a lot of your observations are true, but alas it is not a coincidence. That doesn't degrade the work at all though, since it has proven to work as intended.

I'll be looking forward to see what he writes on his site on this, and even more to follow his work in the future.

Originally posted by harryhaller
4. the artist is confirmed, date is sep 2001 (Aren't magazines finalised BEFORE publication?)

October 2001. See this post and this post.

reply to post by Alxandro


Great catch !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, if Ben Frost is reading any of this....

Why did you make the girl look like a chimp?

So this image was made in 2010 or the assignment was? And if that is the case, then it wouldn't have any bearing on the days before Sept. 11. Just the subliminal message of after the effect of Sept. 11.

Originally posted by MsVen

Originally posted by harryhaller
4. the artist is confirmed, date is sep 2001 (Aren't magazines finalised BEFORE publication?)

October 2001. See this post and this post.

Apologies you are correct. Ok, so one month after then. Less than.
What you think of all the links?

Originally posted by harryhaller
5. the artist is a sick man (see other art, loaded with sexuality, violence and various perversions)

I was one of the ones who said this but by then I hadn't fully realized this was pop art instead of a toy advert. Once I realized what I was looking at I put up one of his pieces as my avatar!

Originally posted by flice
I'll be looking forward to see what he writes on his site on this

Me too! Good work emailing him. Be interesting to see if any of the visual metaphors or symbols were not intended by Ben.

Also, he drew it only a month after 9/11?! He must have formulated some pretty intuitive ideas pretty quickly. Good man.

reply to post by TitaniumL


-The children kinda look like young "maybe children" or grand kids to "Larry Silverstien ".... Larry did know that the towers were comming down.

-So what i mean by this is that the girl (owner) or "builder" of the blocks or "towers" knows how her brother is, he is gonna knock those blocks down..."if you cant beat them, join them"

Ok, I have been a lurker for far too long. But this conversation has got my wheels turning, and I feel obligated to bring my opinion to this thread.

1. I want to say that the boy and the girl represent two states (financial companies);
a. United States (represented by the boy as the elected sovereign (the president));
The boy has a hand gesture that is symbollic for feminine; in other words that state (boy) representing the UNITED STATES being married to another sovereign (the girl) through debt (hence the boys wardrobe). (see. Treaty of Paris and U.C.C.)
His shirt also representing the nation's people being divided. (Divided, plundered and ready to be conquered)

b. England (represented by the girl and their elected sovereign (the queen).
The other state (girl) representing ENGLAND is wearing the pants which is masculine toward the boy (feminine) and she likes the color pink(shirt). But she is by contract feminine at the same time subjected to the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (the pope).

2. Its obvious that the blocks represent the WTC towers and WTC7.

3. Its obvious the Box cutter represents the alleged story of the hijacted planes.
I dunno if it was invented in the Netherlands or not, but if true. the netherlands represent the under-world or low-lands. And if I remember history correctly, The HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE existed in that part of the world.

4. It's also obvious that the blocks that the sovereign of England has built spells out ARMAGEDDON.
(where is the most powerful financial city or market place located?)

5. The soccer ball represents the pentagon and its behind the girls back. Backing up militarily the sovereign for it was created for.

6. The colors of the soccer ball represent:
a. "Yellow" is the brightest color to the human eye. It represents youth, fun, happiness, sunshine and other light playful feelings. It is a cheerful energetic color and also is associated with being scared and, cowards. The term "yellow belly" is proof of that.
b. "Red" is a very strong color. It is a noticeable color that is often used on caution and warning signs. It is often associated with stop or "beware". It’s a hot color that evokes a powerful emotion of passion, lust, sex, energy, blood and war. Red is often used in flags for nations, as it is a symbol of pride and strength.

7. The block she is holding may represent something that is going to be put in place. Either it be a new foundation of civil society under a new soverign under the lawful jurisdictional language of the laws of the United Nations.

8. ...and now the reason I joined AbovetopSecret....The Paper Cut-outs of the people with no heads:
a. The paper represents the worshipping of wood (paper being made of wood pulp)
b. The paper is a creature of the state (respublica) representing your birth certificate (certified legal fact that your NAME belongs to the (boat) state in which you were berthed and that legal fact is in the jurisdiction of the state.( see. 14th Amendment of Constitution and U.S. Code) and we are all equal as the mirror image of the cutouts represent.
c. Connected cutouts also could represent the united people of the state (see. Constitution of THE UNITED STATES and research the social contract of your state (see. state constitions) that lawfully subjected you to the state). thats why you shall wear a seatbelt and be fined.
d. The paper also represents your legalese person. Many people understand this term legalese person as your "strawman".
e. The heads cut off represent that the people united have been "polled" ( see. words; "polled" and "unpolled" in 1828 Websters dictionary)
When one is in suffrage they vote ( see. definition of "vow" in 1828 Webster's Dictionary) at the polls looking for assistance to survive. With that registering of your NAME (Legalese person subjected to the jurisdiction of the state), you have been counted and fall in the jurisdiction of their (federal) courts. In other words you are beheaded and have given up your birth-right of the security and inheritance that The Ever-Living, The Absolute Sovereign, The Creator, or The Unseen has given to you when you were born. But the problem is you gave that all up with the acceptance of the Declaration of Independence marking you free from any king or sovereign, including Him and labeled as a free man living in the "state of nature" also known as "the state of war" abiding by the "laws of nations". There will never be peace when you live in the "state of nature".
f. Civillian; One who is learned in Roman Civil Law.... Villian; a homegrown slave.

Hi. I'm a new member, I've been a curtain twitcher for a while rather than a contributor but this post has made me join up to post the following points I noticed from the pic.

The artist puts blurred out writing in most of his pics, usually on books etc, you wont be able to read it but you will be able to work it out if you use your imagination but on this pic, the shiny white parts on the girls hair look like letters. Is this supposed to spell something? WMD baybe?

The girl at first represents innocence, playing with her blocks but the block in her hand could represent the other plane flying towards the towers, The A could represent America or Airplane?

The boy and girl both have monkeyish features. George Bush has small close together eyes and a monkey type pout just like the boy. The GIRL, could be representing Condeleeza Rice, the monkey features could actually be a very racist point of reference to black people, but again, the girl representing innocence could just be Condeleeza (Then she was Bush's Security Secretary!) acting all innocent but in fact she had a hand in this!!

The 2 towers of blocks, the W and E are more noticable, West and East Tower maybe?

The N definately looks like a 7 on its side representing WT7 building.