Territorial pissing
Living in the worlds sixth most populated city, I often think about space. The one we occupy or inhabit physically at home, during work, when traveling or having coffee on a terrace. Lately, having to apply the rules of social distancing, the concept of personal space and promiscuity have taken on a whole new level. It has an even deeper inpact on the mental space in our heads. I like and sincerely need to be solitary sometimes.
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Blaise Pascale
I like to run in solitude or walk my dog. It gives me peace of mind, or at least it gets me closer to it. Following up on scientific research (Storr, 1988) concludes that we are wrong to consider intimate interaction as the sine qua non of human thriving. Solitude can be just as important to happiness and productivity. Being alone (sometimes and consciously) can been seen as a liberation from cognitive oppression that results in its absence. This oppression is increasingly self-inflicted by our preference for the distraction of digital screens. In the book Solitude (Harris, 2017) the author is concerned that new technologies help create a culture that undermines time alone with one’s thoughts, as the crucial benefits provided by solitude are new ideas; an understanding of the self; and closeness to others.
Walking the dog in solitude
So, where is this space that is neither physical, nor imaginary. This place where one can feel safe, secure, at ease: on your own appreciating the others and vice versa.
“Gotta find a way
To find a way
When I’m there
Gotta find a way
A better way
I had better wait”
Refrain from Nirvana’s song « territorial pissing »
Art work
In the work presented below I compiled 12 snapshots to a series of 6 graphic and somewhat abstract photographic diptychs. All pictures have been taken during daily walks with my dog and depict random angles of reflective beauty of that precise moment. As within other works of mine I only analyzed the images by their form and color, never by their meaning or geographic background. This allows a certain questioning of the relation between one’s home, territory and a deeper felt meaning . This series is an investigation, a documentation, where hidden messages and signs collide with the straight forward rawness of the streets surrounding ones urban space.
“territorial pissings (no.1 to 6)”, 2018
6 photographic diptychs, 30 x 40 cm each, unique
