I worked with this project in a condition of home closure and social distancing and I want to express the emotions that my friends and I feel. For this project I use my old and new photos and mixed techniques.
Due to the situations that humanity is currently experiencing, what prevails is fear: of the other, of the next door man, of the different ones.
We are afraid that the person next to us in the street, in the supermarket, on the bus, is going to infect us. We feel each other as potent enemies, as threats to our lives. This is more insidious than restricting freedom, because it is precisely this fear that imposes the relentless and “voluntary” restriction of freedom.
This “culture of fear” alienates us from one of the core human properties and needs, which is sociability; an attribute that is inherent in life. As it is often not explicit, it nests in the mind and soul, even in the subconscious, thus it becomes extremely difficult to eradicate, it can totally undermine creativity and the participation in social life.
Fear hovers over us, and the goal is us becoming totally alienated to each other.
We can not allow it. Social fear is at the foundation of all hostile policies. It is the soil on which racism, intolerance, and all kinds of (quite often fabricated) social conflicts – the private sector against the public, the unemployed against those with a job etc. – can flourish and grow.
For all this, the active citizen, the people of art and culture, must resist, speak clearly and openly without fear.
The social need for each person to communicate with other people, to be on the same path, to fight together to make a life worth living, cannot be considered something criminal, on the contrary, it is a right and a common goal.
