This project was shot in November of 2016, just after the election of a president. It was shot in New York City although all major cities had similar type enactments of resistance. A commonality in the nation was a polarization of a nation. The large masses of resistance marches on one side, yet polarized on the other by a group of people that just appeared frustrated, tired of the norm….robbed by life.
The Resistance Project in this case looked only at one side. In 2016 as well as into the presidency, it was difficult for many to accept the individual of the free world as being a racist, bigot….sexist, predator, cheat, lier and one can move on and on. It simply didn’t make sense that a country founded on individual freedom and the tenets of the words written on the Statue of Liberty, could bow down so fast. The country was crying, or at least those in resistance. People of all races and cultures were being called ‘less patriotic’ because they didn’t vote for the president. This was a time when ‘the news’ became entangled with ‘the opinion.’ One side viewed CNN, while the other viewed FOX. Both spoke to their sides knowing that they were speaking to the choir but whose hidden audience was the opposition. Both inauspiciously led the public from ‘news to opinion’.
The other side was not photographed for this project, for there is no reason to promote the actions of those utilizing violence. That violent action is not an accepted norm even amongst themselves, so to photograph it might imply that it is a ‘norm’…. That was not my intent. Violent protests will never equate to peace, I think Martin Luther King who stressed ‘non-violent’ protesting in the 1960’s knew that the impact of a peaceful demonstration led to a more willing acceptance by all of the message being given. yet a statement concerning this non-resistant side still has value. These people felt cheated not only by the news but by a feeling that their life was cheated upon. Someone took away their opportunity. Someone to blame. Someone made my lot in life poorer or less than. Someone…someone…Always someone else and never looking within. This most likely has occurred in our history numerous times when masses of immigrants move in to the country and change the culture. No one likes change, especially when change implies your way of thinking, your culture, your life….is being supplanted by ‘someone’ who doesn’t belong here. So it is understandable where this group of individuals derive their ardent support of the same. Too many immigrants here illegally, too much culture lost, too much political correctness instilled or forced upon all. …….
In this Resistant Project…..the faces spoke. While the signs could be read, the faces told the story. Sadness prevailed…a walking mass moved and shifted. A blob of endless bodies holding signs, chanting…. The faces spoke. Nothing was going to be accomplished for in reality it wasn’t (and still is not) up to the masses of people who live in a country to dictate change or policy. It is corporations who rule…dollars which rule…. and scarier more, in our culture today, it is the magnitude of social media on any of the polarized sides that spread panic and fear and promote the absolute hatred of individuals on the other side. A social civil war enacted upon purposely by all sides. A social war played and orchestrated utilizing technology. Phones, text, video…. all instantly recorded and viewed at the fingertips of organizations ready with the intent of not winning over anyone, but creating enough fake news and rabid opinion to spurn hatred for other side.
The Resistance Project was to show not only the ‘faces’ but also in the long run, the hopelessness of attempting to rise and create change in America today, and most likely in all parts of the world. America like much of the world is fickle…. We live in two week life cycles. We resist for a few weeks and then get on with life. Not necessarily forgetting, but not advocating to the degree that it was once. A prime example is gun control. Someone shoots, someone dies…the masses cry and rise, while organizations and dollars promote the opposite. After two weeks, we go back to ‘whatever’ until it happens again and we play the game all over once more. A new version of a phone comes out, a new application for a phone that is cool, a new avatar, a new commercial about something humorous but selling us something, a new…a new…a new. Our minds bend away from any resistance and we start over,…we recycle life and are doomed to continuously play it again.
The ‘idea’ of Resistance itself is not unique and has been enacted many times in history. …just look at the Revolutionary War. But the difference ‘then’ was that people resisted and actively demanded change thru years of ardent participation. They persisted. They persisted thru famine and death and thru a total change of one’s lives. They persisted way beyond two weeks until they won. Today, there is no winning, there is only self-capitilation.