Street Photography means images as witnesses of our history

Let's not underestimate the historical period we are experiencing. As photographers we have a social mission.

I have always supported the importance of street photography as a document. But in this pandemic era I strive to make it understood even more. And this is because the historical, social and political period we are experiencing, from whatever perspective you look at it, is dramatic and crucial for the destiny of all humanity.

While since the end of the Cold War we have counted wars in the Balkans, and wars in North Africa, we have witnessed an economic expansion (however it is a war) with the United States and China facing each other. Even if all this has generated the situation we are in today from the point of view of social changes the past decades have passed without any particular jolts.

As a street photographer and as an observer of the world, yes, I have always denounced a drift towards a sadder and more superficial world, because despite what is said about the 80s and 90s of the past century, the two thousand has arrived to generate the cosmic nothingness in many realities, from music to movies, to any aspect of life. Gray, white or black cars, insignificant TV programs to create people constantly devoted to the superficial, lives that have dragged on from year to year, whole years and decades indistinguishable from each other.

With the arrival of the pandemic we have seen restrictions on freedom and tearing up constitutional papers. We have seen the removal of fundamental human rights in many cases and in many countries around the world. By applying a fake do-goodness that only serves to legitimize the totalitarianism in progress even more, but providing the excuse of living in countries that want to improve, from the environment to inclusiveness, the self-determination of the human being has come under attack. With the alibi of the emergency, several countries in the world are no longer democracies even if they continue to disguise themselves as such. The threat of a world war has probably never been more probable, not even in the 1980s did we reach this level of alert.

While we are on the streets with our cameras we must make an effort to consider all of this. We cannot ignore this. In my opinion, the times of superimposing a pig's head on that of the butcher are long gone. And to be honest, that kind of photo never said anything to me.

It is not even a question of searching for iconic images with every shot. I am speaking rather of a different consciousness that we should all have in the work we are doing. In an awareness of the historical context we are living in order to give a testimony of the same, as real as possible.

A photographer should be flexible and receptive to the social context he is experiencing. He can't blind himself by turning in on himself, he shouldn't keep proposing the same photograph as if nothing had changed.