Divide and conquer. The oldest trick in the book. In the times we are living, the powers that be have torn our communities apart with the complicity of the media and the aid, willingly or not, of the social media companies. Our societies are so divided that being nice to other people before knowing their stance seems like the ultimate challenge. And it has become very frustrating to see this happening around me and not having the power to make others realise what is being done to us. I talk about it, I write about it, I create photography about it, but sometimes it is evident that my efforts are not enough. I need a better strategy.
I know I can't control the things that happen around me, I can only control how I respond to them. And this knowledge is what has been driving me for years to reach out to my community and encourage them to work together to make the world a better place. I wish that others would follow, but I can only control what I do. I knew that I wanted change in the world, and that is why I started by changing myself.
I've always been a very empathetic person, but over the last few years I've also tried to become more compassionate and to hide less my vulnerabilities. And since the pandemic started, I've come to realise that these things are urgently needed in the world right now. If only our leaders shared these ideas with me they would show more empathy, more awareness and more compassion towards those they represent.
We are all in this together, but if we don't work together we are not going to get very far. We have many lessons to learn from recent events but we are stuck. Honestly, soon enough we are going to have to realise that it doesn't matter if you think you are on the right side of history and the others are not. If we don't create bridges and find common ground with others, we are not going to move past this. I know it won't be easy, and I can already hear the arguments from both sides but it has to be done.
The wrongs need to be corrected, the history books need to be rewritten. Perhaps not as tools of punishment but as factual sources of knowledge.
When I was in school, history books taught me that the Spaniards came to my country to finally give us civilisation, religion and language. Things that, according to history books, we were lacking. It took me decades and living in a different continent to start questioning these ideas that were planted in my brain when I was a child. I can only hope that children in my country today are being taught about the atrocities that were committed during the European invasion.
Therefore, I have to understand that some of the things that I believe to be true today might have also been planted in my brain to trick me into believing their veracity. The same way that other people who think differently to me might be under the influence of the groups that are trying to divide us.
My solution to this is to make myself reexamine my personal beliefs often and to engage in conversations with others who don't share my point of view. Whether we agree or not, just listening to what motivates other people's actions and choices will be a good starting point towards building those bridges.
And this is why I think that right now it's crucial to get artists not only involved but also supported. Historically, our role in times like these has always been to engage and collaborate with our communities to explore the world we are living in and offer a creative interpretation of our reality. We force those who view our work to engage in the conversation and question their own realities.
Art is more than just a mirror of society. It is a prism through which we see life from someone else's perspective. Whether you agree with the artist or not, just by engaging with art you also engage in an inner-dialogue that encourages you to question your assumptions. And these days, we are in desperate need to challenge everything that we assume to be true.
Photo credit: behind the scenes by Andrzej Gruszka.
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