Postcards From this Side of the Mirror

"Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only". Butler, Samuel. *1

On an anthropological level, there is a great discrepancy between who we are by our actions and how we see ourselves in the mirror. Mirrors and portraiture can be deceptive since they operate on the surface where we hide from ourselves. But what if the camera could really see us, through surfaces and deceptions, through masks, theatre and social veneer, through ego and self-delusion, just as zoologists see Baboons or Orangutans?

Postcards From this Side of the Mirror endeavours to picture the architects of the society in which we find ourselves today. A society that is; hurling itself towards the precipice of history, seemingly enthralled with a madness that goads us to greater and greater inanities, rampant with libidinous predation and driven by an insatiable greed that threatens to destroy all forms of life on this planet.

In Pietro-Paolo Pasolini’s Salo: or the 120 Days of Sodom the horrors of fascist Italy are personified in its characters. This film provides an excellent example of creating individual portraits by using behavioural traits as they are manifest in human history. Postcards From this Side of the Mirror refers to the Pasolini film by borrowing its structure.

We thank those of you who have taken the time to explore this work over the years. All 5 editions of the Biennale will be archived at uqbar.ca and remain accessible in the foreseeable future.

*1 Butler, Samuel. EREWHON. Dover Publications. New York 2002.