Don't take it personal

Critique on western Society

Don't Take it Personal
An instruction leaflet

At first glance, where to look? So many details, at once composed and chaotic - compete for the eye’s attention. Cautiously the eye realizes: every corner, every accessory in the picture, every prop, every angle contributes to the narrative that these details taken together reveal as a mosaic. It is the narrative of a social milieu that suffocates from its weariness and self-importance, while fancying itself in knowing superiority. This series of images portrays those who are often called "privileged" and sometimes "woke".

The work "Don't Take it Personal" simultaneously shocks, delights and amuses. Some images may appear as repulsive; others demand a longer, closer look; still others dare to deliver a bold and joyful message. These are the portraits of a social class that on the surface, has or could have everything. Educated but despite it all still ends up in misfortune. The photographs pose important questions of our time to those who are often uncomfortable confronting harsh reality. On the one hand they enjoy their privileges and on the other they envision themselves to be on the "right" side. After all, you demonstrate against climate change … you know how important healthcare for all is. 

The body of work criticizes at the painful point: those who are high up in the social hierarchy structure, well aware of the discriminations and inequitable distribution of resources that make these structures possible and promote them in the first place. Not to endanger their own positions of power, they, nevertheless, cling to these self-serving structures. The colorful, good-humored overload of images; the grotesque, abstruse and striking exaggerations that immediately captivate the eye, literally fling the burning questions of our politically fragile and norm-wobbly times at the viewer. Does money make you happy? What role does the body and its perception play in society? What does responsibility look like in these crises that we cause through our modern lifestyles? 

Is the individual ego always above the community? And perhaps at the crux of it, the most important, concrete question of all: How far does self-deception go, and who wants to finally look in the mirror?