For several years, I have been traveling to places where the consequences of global economic activity are evident in dramatic, even inhumane ways. The living conditions of those who suffer from our prosperity are largely traumatic and lead me to a helpless sadness. As an artist, I document these places, which public reporting has rendered invisible through silence, with my friend and photo-artist JN in the illegally deforested forests of Sumatra (Indonesia) or in the mines of eastern Congo. There, I have myself photographed in a dark blue suit, posing like the successful CEOs of Apple, Nestlé, or democratically elected politicians, to attract media attention. The decline of human dignity, the decline of our very livelihood, and the sheer ignorance of Western societies are always before my eyes when I hang up my suit in the closet after my travels. For several months now, JN and I have decided to reach our destinations without using an airplane.
