I OFTEN FIND MYSELF THINKING ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH. I DECOMPOSE THE PIECES, DISMANTLE ELEMENTS IN AN ATTEMPT TO RATIONALLY ANALYZE THEM AND THEN RECOMPOSE AND RECONSTRUCT THE FRAGMENTS, ONLY TO END UP WITH A DIFFERENT EQUATION EACH TIME. FOR REFLECTION ONE LOOKS FOR THE RIGHT PLACE. I LOOK FOR LIFE AND DEATH. AND GREENLAND IS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR ME. GREENLAND IS FAR. GREENLAND IS SEDUCTIVE, ENTHRALLING. GREENLAND IS AS UNSETTLING AS IT IS AMBIGUOUS. IT MAKES YOU FEEL FREE AND CLAUSTROPHOBIC. IT IS NATURE HAVING A MERCILESS GRIP ON LIFE. NATURE TAKES OVER, IT TAKES POSSESSION OF RATIONALITY AND GIVES A MEANING TO DAILY LIFE. IT SMELLS OF FREEDOM BUT IT FORCES YOU THERE HELPLESS, DAY AFTER DAY, MONTH AFTER MONTH. GREENLAND IS ALLURING AND UNSPARING. IT MANIPULATES AND MOLDS YOU. GREENLAND HAS STRONG AND MENACING COLORS WITH MANY GRAY SHADES IN ITS SOUL. GREENLAND NARRATES A DEAFENING SILENCE. IT’S A VOICE WHISPERING UNDEFINABLE AND INSCRUTABLE EMOTIONS. GREENLAND HAS THE HIGHEST SUICIDE RATE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE. ALMOST TWENTY PERCENT OF THEM ATTEMPT TO END THEIR LIVES EVERY YEAR. TWO PERCENT SUCCEED. IT’S A FAR JOURNEY TO GREENLAND. UP THERE OUR CONCEPTION OF LIFE AND DEATH SHAKES, PRIORITIES ARE INVERTED, ELEMENTS SHUFFLED. A FATALIST, DICHOTOMOUS APPROACH TO LIFE. BLACK OR WHITE, WITHOUT SHADES IN BETWEEN, RAW AND CRUEL. IT’S ABOUT SURVIVING, OFTEN PSYCHOLOGICAL. A DELICATE EXPLORATION OF THE SUBTLE AND INTIMATE WAR MANY YOUNG PEOPLE FIGHT AGAINST VIOLENCE, BOREDOM AND EMPTINESS, A STRUGGLE THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE “RAISON D’ETRE” OF YOUNG GENERATIONS, THE DIFFERENCE BEING THAT IN EAST GREENLAND MANY OF THEM LOSE THAT BATTLE. FROM 2009 TO 2012 I WENT BACK AND FORTH TO EAST GREENLAND TRYING TO PAINT THE ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE OF THIS COMMUNITY, WITH NO PSYCHOLOGISTS AND WITH LOCAL GOVERMENT FOR DECADES BEING IN DENIAL OF A SOCIETAL AFFLICTION THAT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS, GOES BACK TO THE DAWN OF THIS CIVILIZATION.
The book from this project is avaliable here: piercasotti.tictail.com