Empathy Archive

As a person I have always been concerned with matters of empathy and cultural understanding. In fact, a question that often come to my mind is:

“Why do we humans create so many artificial divisions between ourselves?”

It is clear to me that we would benefit way more from being united, from collaborating and leaving all bullshit like this aside:

“Oh, he is from another country, oh she is Muslim, oh they are gay…”

If people look closely enough, they have way more in common with other people than not. For starters we are all humans, we all share the same land, and we are all going to have the same destiny when it comes to the earth’s future. And many times, that lack of empathy comes simply from ignorance, from never trying to put yourself in other people’s place, from having a closed mind. And that is exactly the problem I wish to tackle with my art.I could say I want to create more tolerance through art, but in reality, that is not my goal. That is because I believe that tolerance is the wrong word in this sense. Tolerance comes the Latin “tolerans” which means to bear, endure, which is not my goal. I don’t want people to simply tolerate others, that is actually horrible. Tolerating is to me something that I hate or really dislike, but I have learned to live with. No, what I want to create is raw and pure empathy. I want to create unity, bridges between people, bonds, and more understanding. It might feel a bit cliché, but that is essentially what I want.

The project is inspired by this quote from Mary Lou Kownacki:

And also inspired by the Brazilian documentary, Edifício Master, from 2002. The summary is as follows:

“The film records the daily life of the residents of the Master Building, in Copacabana, and presents a rich panel of stories. With 276 apartments and 12 floors, the place is home to the interviewees, who reveal their dramas, loneliness, desires, and vanities.”

The final goal of the project is to create a library of portraits and keep sharing it on social media and YouTube. This way helping me and whoever is watching to have more empathy.