AS I AM
Joint artistic project - Mano Martinez & Daniel Santander.
What are we really like?
What vision do we have of ourselves?
Am I like this?
How should I be towards others?
These are questions which we have wondered in some occasions, and, probably, we haven’t obtained the right answer. But, do we really want to have it? Most of us, due to our human condition, are afraid of finding out the truth about what we are really like. For this reason, this series is expected to be a mirror where our true self will be reflected. The interaction between photography and drawing transports us to that long road full of obstacles and decisions. A road to self-recognition and acceptance.
Our instinct, by its nature, is wild and unstable. But, for better or for worse, the human being has a minimum level of self-control over that side which is eager to go out and take on the world. The self-control consists in protecting and maintaining the balance over our emotions. Our emotions are treacherous fellows, and most of us are really afraid of showing people those emotions, because they hide what we are really like. The fear of showing ourselves is just the response caused by a society which imposes a certain pattern of beauty. This society focuses on this kind beauty and doesn’t accept the free expression of emotions.
It is essential to break down those social barriers in order to destroy that false “self”, which has a control over you when it comes to behaving.
Yes, behaving but neither with roles nor rules. You need to know what your own script is, maybe improvised, but always written by you. This is the step to recognising oneself: looking in the mirror without seeing what people expect from you, but getting your own version, and acting as such. Who do you see when you look in the mirror? Is that really you? Think carefully and consider if the image which is reflected, in front of you, is the one that you have inside. Consider if it is not a product by agreements made in order to be accepted.
It doesn’t matter how you feel, where you are from, or where you are going. It doesn’t matter what your status is: ALL people on this earth are equal. We all are composed of the same matter and our body is just the container of something bigger: the inner self. A heart with thoughts and with a perception of an unparalleled life; that’s our only and extraordinary identity.
The colour of our skin doesn’t identify us; it doesn’t make us exist. Each of us has a personal colour, a tone which represents us.
Make everybody know what your colour really is; show how they really would have to paint you.
Text by Daniel Santander.