True Purpose
It is crazy. The war in Ukraine started nearly a year ago. I don’t really know what to think. Everyday there is a headline. Everyday Ukrainians die.
Not long ago, I questioned the mission of this project, the importance and impact of it. What will it really do? Will it be able to survive even for a second, in a time when the world is so connected that words travel thousands of kilometres instantly? Videos travel thousands of kilometres, instantly. About 23,000 new songs are released digitally every day. Your time and attention are being pulled from one “Content Creation” to the next. Fast pace, bright colours, and other mind-numbing aspects of these attention seekers, really expose what type of society we live in. And it is discouraging. Important things are forgotten, care does not matter, values do no matter. So, based on this, yeah, I guess the war is old news. And when this project is finished, I really have no idea how it will stand up to all of this.
Nevertheless, I will continue. I will do my best work to pay respects to my country, my people, and to share with the world at least a little piece of this sorrow.
I have realized that the purpose of this project is to allow people to feel what is happening, rather than think about it. To peel through the many layers we wrap our vulnerability in, to protect ourselves. So that this vulnerability allows us to open our hearts and mourn together, so that we can rediscover what being human is and what it is for. So we can understand that, no matter how independent we think we are or want to be, interdependency is the path to becoming content. And that we should be sad together, so that we may be happy together.
Thank you for joining me in this project.
This project is made possible with the support of Canada Council for the Arts.