We are living in the Anthropocene, a geological epoch in which human impact on the planet and its ecosystems is so deep it will leave traces for millennia. It can be argued that for human beings, the Anthropocene implies being both an observer of our world and an active part of this observation. It is simultaneously a time of hubris and of humility, as nature retaliates inexorably.
Representation is one of the challenges of the Anthropocene: how to convey and make shareable the experience of living amid environmental disasters and escalating change? This research project proposes another take on representation in the Anthropocene, specifically by seeing the desire to be represented, the quest for visibility as one of the causes of the devastation created by humankind. With this research, I would like to look at us as individuals and understand when, why and how we decided to place the self above all else. Why do we need to see ourselves everywhere and in everything? Does one need to be recognized to be? Do things need to be constantly present to exist? Can one still subsist while choosing not to appear?
To answer these questions, this project will focus on the notion of ‘shy’ as an alternative mindset. The word ‘shy’ is used here as an umbrella term to refer to bodies which are less visible. The ‘shy’ qualification extends to the less observable parts of our human experience, including everything in our ecosystem which collides with or enters our space and our bodies anonymously. However, since it aims at bypassing representation, ‘shy’, as something to be performed, an ethics of making art and moving in the art world as well as a theoretical concept, doesn’t comply to fix images of who could be representative of the ‘shy’.
