Recently, I have been thinking about where we are going, using photography as the mediator to make sense of the unfortunate situation we are currently experiencing. I am thinking about the past while I evaluate the present, and although I am deeply concerned, I am still optimistic about the future. I think about our medium’s social and cultural contributions as well as its importance. I think about my work and the work of others, and during this productive downtime, I have been pondering about the critical segments of what we need, and what we don’t. Mostly, I have been thinking with a high level of concern that I might not be able to make the picture you are seeing below ever again because I might have to keep my distance, social or otherwise noticed, for an extended period of time, or permanently. But I have taken that picture, I have been that close, inches in fact, as an unannounced guest into their life and that moment. To explore, inquire, and learn about them but also about myself; about the important things in life that matter the most.
Despite the virus pandemic, I would like to hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel for us all to disconnect, not from each other but from the devices that superficially connect us. The ones that satisfy our desire to be heard, to argue, to show that we are pissed off, in a digital format of course, followed by a cocktail while engaging “socially” via Zoom. Hopefully, we will not succumb to this superficial social engagement for much longer. I truly do appreciate the fact that we have the ability to connect and get to know each other. Most importantly to have the time to learn about each other's work, and to relate and find meanings that connect us, regardless of process and quality. The question and concern that I have is why do we seem to bond more during this pandemic via digital conversation than beforehand in person? The technology was always present as a common scene is a group of friends “socializing” while all individually connected elsewhere on their phones. Although we shared the same space whether it be a bar, coffee shop, library or someone’s home, we were not fully connected with each other or our environment, usually looking at a screen similar to the one we are used to looking at now, to escape. Now at least the group is sharing the same digital format, therefore more engaged. One can argue that the pandemic created more time to socialize but trust me, you are not that busy, and neither am I. We had time to socialize then and now, so what changed? Why are we craving human connection now more than before when we were able to more directly? Personally, I believe that we were not really that close before, but pretended to be. There is and always has been time for the things that matter.
“National Guard” Fair Life, For Now, Harford, Penn., 2013. © Niko J. Kallianiotis
The aftermath of this situation is probably irrelevant and disconnected from photography but the medium is here to work as a paradigm and also an aphorism of high importance and an instigator of utter exploration. Sometimes I have explored ferociously and other times with complete boredom, and I have recently regretted the times I complained or was in a grumpy mood. I was naive to not realize in those confusing and self-absorbed moments the self-democratic freedom I was currently experiencing; the freedom to be part of other people’s lives, from a much needed intimate physical and emotional distance, that filled the gaps of an imaginative void. I have been thinking about this image you see here from the Harford Fair in Pennsylvania, in terms of the level of intimacy, unawareness, careless and free attitude, but also of the social connotations that could possibly prevent us from experiencing the self-evident, to get close, inches from each other, and to feel the breath, the sweat, the whispers. A moment that might not be possible in the near future, and maybe never again without the need of the mask that will hide our expressions and our words, much-needed words and moments that we were too busy or afraid to explore extensively; to go out there, to dive into the abyss of feelings with or without a camera.
This current situation has bonded some and separated others, emotionally and physically, but determined by other entities that usually keep us apart from the things we love, from the ones we love. As I write this post a media outlet reports that couples are saying “I do” on video chat, and we are happy about that, it brings us together; we became virtual wedding crashers. I want to free myself from the digital barstool and have a cocktail in close intimate quarters, discussing the walks we had while making photographs, the moments we missed, and words we never spoke in person, the good and the bad. But for now, I am happy to experience life sharing the same screen.