Photo series
Selfless Activism
During the Foto Lab at Meervaart Studio, I created the photo series “Selfless Activism”. It portrays people who share one common trait: the willingness to spend their free time standing up for matters greater than themselves, like climate justice, veganism, and the elimination of discrimination. The making of this photo series allowed me to familiarize myself with the world of activism. I care deeply about the climate and righteousness, so I sought actions that reflected these values. Over the course of two months, I captured seven actions and participated in quite a few more. These three photographs were selected for the exposition because they show a beautiful side of activism that is not covered by the media enough: human connection.
Extinction Rebellion protested in front of the Rijksmuseum against their ties with bank ING. ING is the single greatest funder of fossil fuels in the Netherlands and currently acts as the lead sponsor of the museum. During the protest, people were given the ability to share their speeches. One person shared a letter to their future child, in which they expressed how scared they are of the current climate developments and the consequences thereof. The emotions captured within this letter resonated with a lot of the listeners. In the moment captured, an activist was listening to the speech, while a tear rolled down her face.
Animal Save Movement organizes Save Squares. These are actions in which vegan activists stand at a busy spot with their backs facing one another, holding screens that display videos taken in slaughterhouses, while others talk to willing passengers about where their food originates from, and whether this aligns with their morals. While eight activists were supposed to participate in this particular Save Square, only two of them showed up. However, this didn’t lessen their motivation to stand up for the animals. In the moment captured, a passerby was looking at the video, while the activist conversed with him about his observations.
In their mission to make the ING bank cut ties with the fossil fuel industry, Extinction Rebellion planned to block the A10 highway for the third time. However, this time the police prevented the blockade from happening, so the protest diverted to the location of the legal support demo. In the moment captured, an orchestra and choir of activists performed the final chorus of the Matthäus Passion. Throughout the song, blue textiles were pulled up to create the illusion that the musicians were drowning in a sea. Moments of silence followed the last note before a loud applause began.
The following photographs are also a part of the photo series but were not included in the exposition, as a selection of three had to be made.
