Remco de Vries What does Escapism mean to me 17-03-2020
What does escapism mean to me? I am usually very curious about what things do, how things work, and what they mean, but at the same time I try to find it out myself by trying or doing instead of doing too much of desk research. So for this essay I shifted between doing a quick research or writing my own beliefs about it? I decided to do the first, take a quick look at Google and see what meaning of the word is according to the internet and how much that actually means to me. According to Wikipedia; “Escapism is the avoidance of unpleasant, boring, arduous, scary or banal aspects of daily life. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to help relieve persistent feelings of depression or general sadness.” Which is interesting, because beforehand I researched the same word in Dutch and it is actually a little different, I disagreed with the Dutch explanation of the word, but with this English version I pretty much agree. To me escapism is about taking a step back, breathe for a moment, find your inner peace and take a step back from daily life. One can do that by going to places where you can relax and contemplate. Looking at myself, I am going for walks through forests or the beach, or if I’m not in the position to do so I drive around in my car. Here comes the heavy part, before I realized I have a chronic depression I never thought about escapism, life for me was all about working hard, grinding. I never thought about taking my foot off the pedal. But once I was in therapy I needed to find a place where I could go and not be inside my own head all the time. That turned out to be a forest, or a beach. I started talking to other people about this and I realized that this is quite different for everyone. For me it may be a beach, but for someone else it could be a techno party with some MDMA, or the weekly kick-box training, or maybe sitting in your dorm room and listening to your favorite music. The fact that this can be so vastly different to everybody is something that appeals me. I wonder why it is different. When it comes to my photography, it’s the difference I would like to capture. Seeing different people all in their own spaces of contemplation. I want them to take me to their space and take me into their experience. Capturing them while they feel most at ease and hoping to achieve the same feeling through their experience. My photographs should reflect that moment too. As of right now I already visited two people and tried this. Both of them welcomed me into their moment of peace and contemplation. I was invited into their experience, and I belief I felt the same they did through their stories. I belief the pictures I took reflect how they felt. I processed these moments by using my phone as a voice recorder to record our conversations while I photographed them. The only doubt I have right now is whether there needs to be a deeper layer to this project. As of right now I don’t see one myself, but that may also be because I look at it so closely.