Zeitgeist: A contemporary mythology on Human Condition

* Ongoing series. New works will be included when ready.

There are many definitions and approaches for what Human Condition is. For me, it was first shown in myths, hidden behind the veils of our daily lives. Stories before History, myths emerge in four major domains of human’s search and behavior: the cosmologic, the mystical, the psychological and the sociological. These structures are so deeply written in our minds that we don’t perceive that we are immersed in them unless we pay attention to their subtle manifestations: the veils should be ripped.

Tradition shows who we were and who we are, and from two branches of Knowledge – Mythos and Logos -, the Human Being was able to explain perceptions of his place on the universe and its avatars: they tell about our hopes, fears, motivations, and our endless search for meaning. And that is what makes us Human.

With this series I try to metaphorically represent some aspects of the human condition through what I conceive as a contemporary mythology, showing similarities with characters that were originated in remote times, personifying behavior models that make the Zeitgeist, a German word which it’s approximated translation is “the spirit of the time”. I started with what I think is a representative view of today’s human way of being in the world: Logos (i.e., rational, logic thinking) asphyxiating Mythos (imaginative, symbolic thinking), our intents to put Nature under our control, the absolute trust on Science (as the only and definitive answer to our questions), the limits and our limitations, our efforts to take “the fire of the gods”, etc. They are but a few examples from a larger series.

Since many years ago I couldn’t avoid imaging this Zeitgeist and the many faces our present human condition may show. So, to orientate myself I went back to the origins to find the seeds of what is going on and what someday will be. It is necessary to think and to feel from that primeval origin.

At the beginning, it was Myth.

Tecnhique:

Black and white Silver Gelatine handmade prints, unique pieces