The five stages of inebriation
Charles Percy Pickering and Hot Rum Cow plot the peculiar perils of the old-fashioned soak and the latter-day lush
Some of the perils of drunkenness are timeless. Humiliation, dishevelment, nausea, over-confidence, self-loathing, confusion, recklessness – none of these have retreated with the passing of centuries. But other pitfalls are peculiar to this age, as anyone who has awoken to find a face blackened with Sharpie scrawls will attest.
Some time between 1863 and 1868, the English-born photographer Charles Percy Pickering embarked on a photographic project to depict one man’s slow descent through drink – identifying on the way five distinct stages between sobriety and ruin.
It is believed that his ‘carte de visite’ style images, collectively called The Five Stages of Inebriation, were commissioned by an Australian temperance group to discourage heavy drinking. The problems associated with excessive drinking were obviously a hot topic at the time with the passing of the New South Wales Drunkards’ Punishment Bill in 1866, which gave the government the power to prosecute anyone acting drunk or disorderly in any highway or public place.
The State Library of New South Wales, which owns the photographs, says they were shot at Pickering’s Sydney studio using a model. Pickering had moved to Australia in 1855 and found success producing family photographs for the middle classes and souvenir portraits of the famous.
His own fortunes fluctuated and he was twice made bankrupt before dying in 1908. The Five Stages of Inebriation was his most famous work. The images were produced using the albumen printing technique, which uses egg whites and photosensitive chemicals to bond the image to the page.
In the interests of public service journalism, Hot Rum Cow here updates Pickering’s work for the 21st century to shine a light on the particular plight of the modern drunk.
A night so full of promise. Smart and sophisticated – all set for an evening of highbrow conversation. But what’s that glinting in your hand? That ominous G&T? It’s just to grease the wheels of the evening. What harm could it do?
You have peaked! In your mind you are at your most charming and amusing. You are dangerously over-confident about your waning motor skills. In the modern world this means you can repel the opposite sex by dancing extravagantly and lose money by gambling on your own pool-playing prowess.
Everything has slumped. The posture. The dancing to woozy swaying. The cocksure smile to a surly, skewed leer. It’s all rather at odds with your garish neon cocktail. In our inter-connected world not being in the room offers no defence from your drunken state as you deploy your smartphone to abuse ex-partners, post inappropriate selfies and sext uninterested work colleagues.
The expression asks, “Where is my next completely unnecessary drink coming from, how did it come to this, why is this kebab so heavy?” The clothing is now 90 per cent chilli sauce and mysterious blue liquid. In a simpler time no one would remember you being swept through the streets by a gaggle of hens on your modern-day chariot. But these days it is already online for the world to enjoy before you’ve even finished your polystyrene and dog meat dinner.
It’s all gone. You lost your last shred of dignity around the same time as your traffic cone. Your final interaction of a memorable evening is with the police. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Archive photography kindly supplied by the State Library of New South Wales.
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