In his work "The Act of Seeing" Wim Wenders said, "The most political decision you make is where you direct people's eyes. In other words, what you show people, day in and day out, is political...And the most politically indoctrinating thing human being is to show him every day, that there can be no change." And who would have thought that after humankind's most horrifying acts in history, this society is still witnessing actors pushing against the idea that there can be a change? Genocide is a word that should have never again re-emerged in human history. Nevertheless, after the Armenian genocide in 1915, the Holocaust in 1933, the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the Rohingya Genocide and sorrowfully, several others, we keep witnessing it now in Gaza, Palestine.
One of the signs of societal involvement in solidarity with Gaza grew through the student encampment movement worldwide since last year, including students from Swedish universities. Yet, until the 22nd of November, near to having achieved the two hundred days of peaceful protest, the last encampment in Europe, if not in the world, was taken down at Gothenburg University. Endearingly named "Gazaplatsen" represented a space for not only students but, academics and civilians to add efforts to first, the resistance to the Genocide in Gaza, second to the demand for the boycott on academic ties with Israel that supported the genocide, and to advocate for the provision of support for Palestinian students affected by the events.
Furthermore, Gazaplatsen was a symbolic space that reduced the distancing of the city of Gothenburg from the genocide in Gaza. It was a space that symbolized mutual human recognition and local solidarity. It symbolized the effort of re-directing the societal gaze, towards change through the current realities. However, the intervention of stakeholders and public authorities in the demolition of Gazaplatsen symbolized directing societal eyes to a void. A void of inaction, a void of silence, a space where the marks on the soil and the skies above are the only accounts for the hope that bore. But most importantly, it revealed something about us as individuals and as a society. This project uses digital collage to allegorically explore and depict the symbolism of Gazaplatsen, and delves into questions that relate to one's role in society and simultaneously, about the genocide. It aims to re-direct each spectator's gaze inwardly.
["The Landscape"]
["Where We Stand: Futilities"]
["Underestimated Introspections"]
["No Distance"]
Comentários