Forget / Forgive

There are events in our lives that due to their strong impact, produce images which ‘freeze’ us in time and space of that exact moment. In one of my first ‘frozen’ images I see myself observing my mother who was wrapping up glasses in newspapers. That was when I found out that we were going to move to Portugal. In the 80’s, moving from Germany to Portugal, was like a time travel, the ones that provoke an ear buzz which takes some time to disappear.

What was left from Germany was its language that rooted itself somewhere in my brain as an extension of my spine (to paraphrase Wim Wenders). What was also left was the ease in learning other languages, the ability to mimicry within the cultures of the countries I later chose to live in. England at first, then Italy.

In London, I studied Photography while I was working in a restaurant serving Oysters and champagne to the Gallery owners of Bond Street. In Turin, I studied Interior Design while I was teaching English. Later, and to finish paying off my degree course, I accepted a job as a Human Resources Assistant in a multinational company.

And there I stayed for a while. Until the day which produced another one of those ‘frozen’ images. The one that was printed in everyone’s mind on that fateful day of September. Incredulous I asked my boss (who was American) what was happening. He coldly answered that he didn’t know but that ‘they’ were going to pay for what they did. This is when I see myself standing in front of him, being totally aware of what was to come.

I resigned and went back to my teaching job. Some time later I moved back to Portugal. Here I started doing Photography again and later video. At this point I enrolled in an Art Accademy. This is the beginning of the story that got me here....

My first day in NY, suggest a tour to Occupy Wall Street and Ground Zero.

Here I wished I had a microphone to register all sorts of conversations going on.

At Ground Zero, I think I got closer to what New Yorkers must have felt that day.