"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"
Mark Twain 'The Innocents abroad' (1869)
With these a hundred and forty eight years old words started my email addressed to the many travelers on a bike, to offer them to contribute with their traveling pictures to the creation of a photography exhibition for purely charitable purposes.
The reaction, even if I knew very well the world and the soul of the travelers on two and three wheels, went beyond every expectation, with more than 100 people in this very moment, and the idea , born almost by chance, has become a group project, as if it had been thought of at the beginning.
And for all this I must thank everyone even before the material realization of the photographic exhibition.
Different reasons, different purposes, but many things in common among all participants. They may well be synthesized in the Mark Twain's quote I used to start my email, exactly. Is this kind of enthusiasm, this curiosity towards the world and others that give meaning. The difference is on how we cross the world, life in general, and not only in two wheels, on how and what we are able to see and feel.
The bicycle in its simplicity is like one of the participants said a "freedom machine" with its ability to reconnect and reconcile us with the world. Walking long distances to the rhythm of a bike allows us to see, think, and feel better the flowing life, as wasted time along the way is never lost and truly wasted if we talk with somebody, if we watch a different landscape, and in this way we create invisible bridges as in Mark Twain's words sense, in a world unfortunately often devoted to the construction of fences and walls.
Along the way, making this, made me think of turning, devoting and advertising in particular the exhibition to the school world, to offer more wide horizons than a smartphone or computer screen can offer.
In a wonderful world, where science and technology did in 70 years 'jumps' never done on past centuries, human beings when they don't just follow greed, prejudices and presumptions, often follow on simple ready-made words that seem to prevail. Strong, aggressive words or otherwise words of compassion that only take a minute, just the time of news on tv, seem to be the norm instead of finding a solution, doing even something small, in person and in a tangible way.
The winter of two years ago I participated in interventions helping the homeless, on the streets by night, distributing food and blankets together with many people like me, with a family, jobs and duties, but willing to do something for others in trouble. I have seen common people instead of retiring home, in the evening, in front of the tv, trying to help as much as possible the less lucky ones. I saw them in action, without any emphasis or heroism, normal people able to consider less lucky ones as 'people' and not invisible as they are for the majority and this not just by giving one dish but being able to listen, to give that human warmth and attention that is so often lacking.
Since I am not able to participate anymore, for a number of reasons, I thought about this project to support the volunteering people that keep operating. In a world where the drowned people are more than the saved ones, I would like match something I have always liked such as photography, by telling through images the places where participants have traveled and their beauty, the people encountered, combining it with solidarity.
The idea of this project, in some ways, arises precisely from the consideration that paradise is under our feet and around us without most people not being able to see it and the thought of the contrast between this beauty and the human condition.
There are daily gestures such as having a coffee with colleagues, routines such as meeting with friends on Saturday to have pizza at a restaurant.....well I like to think this project in this way, as a small aid (that coffee-pizza) offered symbolically by friends from the four corners of the world to make this project come true and help other unknown, less lucky friends
The reaction, even if I knew very well the world and the soul of the travelers on two and three wheels, went beyond every expectation, with more than 100 people in this very moment, and the idea , born almost by chance, has become a group project, as if it had been thought of at the beginning.
And for all this I must thank everyone even before the material realization of the photographic exhibition.
Different reasons, different purposes, but many things in common among all participants. They may well be synthesized in the Mark Twain's quote I used to start my email, exactly. Is this kind of enthusiasm, this curiosity towards the world and others that give meaning. The difference is on how we cross the world, life in general, and not only in two wheels, on how and what we are able to see and feel.
The bicycle in its simplicity is like one of the participants said a "freedom machine" with its ability to reconnect and reconcile us with the world. Walking long distances to the rhythm of a bike allows us to see, think, and feel better the flowing life, as wasted time along the way is never lost and truly wasted if we talk with somebody, if we watch a different landscape, and in this way we create invisible bridges as in Mark Twain's words sense, in a world unfortunately often devoted to the construction of fences and walls.
Along the way, making this, made me think of turning, devoting and advertising in particular the exhibition to the school world, to offer more wide horizons than a smartphone or computer screen can offer.
In a wonderful world, where science and technology did in 70 years 'jumps' never done on past centuries, human beings when they don't just follow greed, prejudices and presumptions, often follow on simple ready-made words that seem to prevail. Strong, aggressive words or otherwise words of compassion that only take a minute, just the time of news on tv, seem to be the norm instead of finding a solution, doing even something small, in person and in a tangible way.
The winter of two years ago I participated in interventions helping the homeless, on the streets by night, distributing food and blankets together with many people like me, with a family, jobs and duties, but willing to do something for others in trouble. I have seen common people instead of retiring home, in the evening, in front of the tv, trying to help as much as possible the less lucky ones. I saw them in action, without any emphasis or heroism, normal people able to consider less lucky ones as 'people' and not invisible as they are for the majority and this not just by giving one dish but being able to listen, to give that human warmth and attention that is so often lacking.
Since I am not able to participate anymore, for a number of reasons, I thought about this project to support the volunteering people that keep operating. In a world where the drowned people are more than the saved ones, I would like match something I have always liked such as photography, by telling through images the places where participants have traveled and their beauty, the people encountered, combining it with solidarity.
The idea of this project, in some ways, arises precisely from the consideration that paradise is under our feet and around us without most people not being able to see it and the thought of the contrast between this beauty and the human condition.
There are daily gestures such as having a coffee with colleagues, routines such as meeting with friends on Saturday to have pizza at a restaurant.....well I like to think this project in this way, as a small aid (that coffee-pizza) offered symbolically by friends from the four corners of the world to make this project come true and help other unknown, less lucky friends
"I learned that a man has the right to look down on another man just to help him to get back on his feet"
Gabriel Garçia Màrquez
Gabriel Garçia Màrquez
photographs thanks to the collaboration of Leah Denbok
http://ldenbokphotography.com/ http://www.leahdenbok.com/
The initial idea was to create a photographic exhibition to tell the world of two-wheeled travelers and to do so for charity, with funds raised to create food avaliability at one ore more distribution chains, for the homeless help.
To that initial idea was added another one, remembering how the simple cardboard of a household appliance can make a difference, in winter, during the colder days, sometimes survival when temperatures fall below zero, maybe together with a sleeping bag or a survival thermal blanket.
But creating and distributing emergency shelters is not just thought of to provide shelter from the cold, it is also a shelter from judgement ad curiosity, a screen of minimal protection, privacy and dignity for those living on the margins of society.
People on the sidelines, "At the rock-bottom", the same as in the title of a theatrical work by Maksim Gorkij, that aren't to blame unless you want to blame someone for being expelled from the production processes due to the economical crisis or experiencing social or mental unease.
This initiative proposes only this, giving a helping hand to those who need it, without any judgement or heroic spirit, just because it is what is right to do.
To that initial idea was added another one, remembering how the simple cardboard of a household appliance can make a difference, in winter, during the colder days, sometimes survival when temperatures fall below zero, maybe together with a sleeping bag or a survival thermal blanket.
But creating and distributing emergency shelters is not just thought of to provide shelter from the cold, it is also a shelter from judgement ad curiosity, a screen of minimal protection, privacy and dignity for those living on the margins of society.
People on the sidelines, "At the rock-bottom", the same as in the title of a theatrical work by Maksim Gorkij, that aren't to blame unless you want to blame someone for being expelled from the production processes due to the economical crisis or experiencing social or mental unease.
This initiative proposes only this, giving a helping hand to those who need it, without any judgement or heroic spirit, just because it is what is right to do.