I was thinking about opportunities. A society where everyone could transform their lives according to their aptitudes, talents, dreams instead of their fears, limitations, impositions. How nice it would be if everyone could just be and do what they are and do best, without the pressure of competition, market demands, social conventions.
We all have special traits and talents. We are all unique and overflowing with unique qualities that thrive in the light of diversity. We are living this space and time that is NOW. We are all going down the same road on this short period of time called life.
Why can’t we celebrate, value, cherish, contribute instead of working against each other, opposing, fighting, segregating? Why should respect and solidarity be the exception and not the rule?
Like it or not, we are in this together. We better learn to appreciate it to thrive with it or we are condemned to failure as a species, as individuals or collectives.
Together is better. Respect for diversity, preciation and empathy are keys.
Painting in exhibition at Naivistit Iittala, summer exhibition 2021. Stay safe, take care, be merry!
E aqui estamos nós, eles, vocês, entre uma coisa e outra, desejando um, lutando com outro, sendo ambos, autorizando todos. Levando e sendo levados pela existência impiedosa, contra a correnteza, a favor do tempo, sem segundas chances, sem perdão.
Nosso silêncio fala muito mais que nossas palavras.
Somewhere in the world, at this moment, someone woke up hungry and has no food at home to feed their children. Someone has been working hard for more than 8 hours straight, on an empty stomach. Someone does not know where he/she is going to sleep tonight, despite freezing temperatures and rain. Someone is being insulted, punished, violated, raped, murdered for not having accepted, understood, agreed, obeyed, for being born a woman, for being born black, for being born gay.
Meanwhile, right now, someone is making another million in the past 2 hours, even before getting out of bed. Someone is deciding on the fate and lives of tens, hundreds, thousands of people, while enjoying an exquisite lobster dish and a rare bottle wine, on a terrace, overlooking the Mediterranean. Someone is buying another yatch, mansion, private jet with public money, with money from traffic, with money earned from illegal exploitation of work, natural resources, crime. Someone is praying in temples while exploiting, evading, killing, destroying, corrupting.
And here we are, they, you, between one thing and the other, wishing for it, fighting it, being both, authorizing everything. Leading and being led by a merciless existence, rowing against the current, towards time, with no second chances, without any forgiveness.
Our silence speaks more than words. Our acts shout. We almost always act out of inertia. We are walking, but we barely move.
We believed to be the alpha species on this planet but we look the other way for a second and there we are, fragile, scared, subject to a tiny teeny virus. And no, it was not a little flu. It was a wake up call to make humans understand the kind of society we have become. We are predators, vicious, egocentric, primitive, violent beings and we take pride on destroying our own planet. Earth is trying to get rid of us. The few of us that can have the luxury of staying in a safe and decent home, with food, peace and comfort, don’t care about the vast majority of vulnerables, who are exposed to despair, hunger and death. Let’s face it: We are no good.
We are still sitting around, thinking about our next vacations and acquisitions, we are still worried about what kind of phone and car we can conquer before our neighbour, not realising the bigger message this weird times are trying to imprint on us. It is time for awakening. It is time to understand that there is no Planet B and if we don’t start behaving in a more conscious, sustainable and holistic way, the planet will succeed on getting rid of us and, before the new dawn, nature will take over again, seeking back it’s balance. We don’t own the planet, it owns us.
Well done Earth! I am on your side.
It was about time, we needed to be stopped, so new flowers could start blooming again on our sidewalks.
Humanity needs, urgently, to reconsider its values, reasons, actions. Most of us still believes that we are separated by gender, class, nationality, race. Most of us still believes in religion, a savior god outside of our own selves. We are still struggling against racism, feminicide, abuse, violence, bigotry, xenophoby, homophoby, prejudice, poverty. Humans are humanity biggest enemy. We burn our forests, we exterminate our fellow beings, we destroy nature and idolize money, assets, status, while we bluntly ignore pain and injustice.
2021, 21st century and we have not been this primitive not even when we used to live in caves and had to hunt wild beasts for living. We are savages wearing famous brands and making selfies to post on social media.
I hope things change. I hope snowball wars are the only hardships we still have to handle.
We are subjects to fake news on a daily basis. We have been drowning in lies for way longer than it would possibly be considered normal. Lies are not, never normal. Nor healthy. It shows deep sickness in society. It disguises the lowest forms of manipulation for the benefit of a few. It is the sign of greed and evil in its most disgusting way. We are not only fed with lies, but we help to spread it, as a deadly virus. Corona makes fewer victims than Fake News. They say: “A lie, told a million times, become the truth” – but in virtual social media times, a few likes and shares are enough to sink deeply and overtake less smart brains and become a pandemic of lies and misinformation. People have no filter, not enough information and education to differentiate right from wrong anymore. We see poor people defending rich people´s interests. We see women obeying and complying to misogyny and prejudice. We see minorities allowing their opressor to absurd acts of cruelty and violence. Fake news become justifiable knowledge for idiots. And we see all of them worshipping the very knife that will stab their own flesh, sooner or later.
2020 is a year to forget. As any, each and every year, good and bad things happens, but 2020, if possible, should be excused, deleted, forgotten. As plants need water and sun, we need good memories to give us the strength to carry on, to feed the life in us. The clock may stop but time doesn’t. We should not waste our precious days looking back, because life is the kind of rollercoaster that doesn’t stop until the ride is over and our only concern should be keeping track, holding fast and looking forward. And perhaps also enjoying the wind on our skin, on every possible opportunity. Life is too short to waste in fear, lies, drama. If we have a choice, we should choose beauty, every time. We should not be hostages of our own imposition, tyranny or decisions. Life and others already do that, we should not comply. We are free and like so should we remain. We accept imposed limitations and we carry too much unnecessary burdens. We fight battles that are not ours, on a daily basis, for a life time. We should live, not only survive. Last summer I tried to ignored the pain and purposely tried to enjoy the light of precious moments. That book, those colors, the grass and the breeze, the taste of caramel and macadamia ice cream on a hot day. Clouds and blue sky. Do not take your peace and your pleasure for granted. All the rest is manageable, but some things should not be negotiable. We need to built good memories to endure tough times. We need to leave the past in the past. Good memories naturally resist the proof of time. Art does too.
luciana mariano 