Monday, 26 October 2009

Enochlophobia poem

I decided to write the poem myself, in English:

"I am anxious
I am suffocating
I am gradually drowning in this wave of people
Which seems to constantly haunt me
Am I paranoid or am I really suffering?
I am trapped in the midst of thousands of individuals
Each one going in an opposite direction
And yet each one of them seems to follow my shadow,
Trapping it,
Keeping it steady, immobile,
Capturing, stealing
All its strength.
I can perceive a very strong sensation of
Claustrophobia and enochlophobia.
I need to breathe
I need to able to yell at the world
That I need to be released
I deserve the right to gaze at the dawn
Over, on the other side of the city
I need a serene moment of interior peace
Where I am able to perceive a gentle breeze
Which blows and with deliberate silence,
Strokes my hair."

I was thinking that this could be the background of this project.

EnochlophobiA

In this new project I am exploring one of the many phobias of human beings: enochlophobia. Enochlophobia is the fear of crowds, of being surrounded by large groups of people, generating feelings of insecurity, anxiety, and in a way, 'suffocation' as well. Since my main theme is that of 'FEAR', I wanted to convey this 'phobia' not only by painting many figures from several different pictures I took this summer in Amsterdam, but as a background, I wanted to repeat that idea of enochlophobia through words. Basically, I wanted to find a song or a poem about it and translate it in Dutch and use it as a background, almost as if the words became 'haunting' and causing anxiety just as crowds do.