toxic rage

in the summer of 2020, I heard people talking about this beach in the river Lea in Hackney. it was a hot summer, and after months of corona's lockdown, I went to check it out one day - I live very close by. arriving there, I was stunned; the place was taken by hundreds of os people drinking, listening to music. having fun. one image struck me; a group was on a tree trunk that leaned into the river, jumping in the irresistible refreshing water. I walked down to the margin, just to dip my feet in the river, and  I went home- too many people, too much noise, too hot! the next day I woke up early ( too hot! remember) and went back to the same spot. I was impressed. there were empty beer cans and bottles of water, disposable BBQs and plastique bags, towels, shoes, gas canisters, you name it. I walked to the riverbed where I had the day before, and as I was looking at the river and organizing my thoughts with the scene I had seen, I heard the start of a chainsaw. I looked to my left, and a man was cutting that tree whose people were jumping from the afternoon before. in my head, the trunk had broken because of the weight of the people that got on it and the man was just cutting the rest to revome it. that really upset me at the moment, and I went straight home  ( later I heard it was cut because someone got hurt from jumping from it, so it was a liability, which is even more stupid). the funny thing is that the image that is the video ( someone coming in the water, submerging and coming out) came to me straight away when I was still in the riverbed and the use of the "materials" left behind to build a mask. (originally I wanted to give a "fuck you" with my middle finger as a clear message, but the result wasn't good). as you will see in the videos below, I tried different materials with different results, culminating with a mask made mostly of aluminium cans tied up with strips of fabric from clothes and some branches (and a mini disco ball). 100% found in the hackney marches. the plastic bag I'm wearing is also from there. the only thing is not, it's the turmeric I put over my body. turmeric is a flowering plant known for its taste and anti-inflammatory qualities, but also for its strong colour that can be used as a natural dye. I use it to show that there are ways to don't pollute if we want to or to pollute less if we put a little effort into it.

I don't pretend to judge people or something like that, but I want to show that we can do better. collect the trash you brought in, clean after yourself and don't kill a tree because we want to have fun is the minimum. I was fortunate to grow up in a house where we separated the organic waste from the rest and used it for compost. my mother is a biologist so we always have plants around the house. I have surfed since a very young age. I learn to respect the ocean. I love the stars. I'm not perfect. I used to smoke and throw the buds on the floor for years. sometimes trash doesn't finish in the bins. I'm a photographer, and part of my chemistry ends up in the drain (even if we try to minimise it in my darkroom). I don't expect people to be perfect on it. we all have different lives, full of situations and problems. but we can do better. you can do better. we can respect Mother Nature the same that we do Elon Musk or Money or our favourite band. don't you think She deserves that?

later in 2021, this project continued, which is documented in Lea. I collected the trash left behind to make a cyanotype processed in the river. hope you like it