Robert Baramov

2014 The People With Closed Eyes

I ran into an odd phenomenon. I live in a society of individuals with closed eyes. I tried to calculate how long people's eyes are closed everyday by natural causes.  I shot many strangers in the streets, as I set the goal to capture the moment of flashing. The need for moistening of the cornea force the people to blink repeatedly every minute. When we add the hours people spend in sleeping and resting, it turns out that the main their state is not active-awake but lethargic-asleep. Besides physiological, what other could be the reasons that force the members of society to move without using their main sensor? Consciousness of belonging to the organized social components of rational population often sleepy individual activity on the presumption that someone else will take the initiative to solve problems that we care about. In former Soviet bloc inherited from the totalitarian principle of times group responsibility, fear of self expression or free standing up for our positions explains the political and social context in the peaceful revolt of people who refuse to attend as sighted in the surrounding reality. I could explain to myself this symbolic form of periodic rhythmic-blindness as a parallel between the conscious choice of self-preservation and lack of personal initiative. Something as reflective protection from full of dust headwind. Or shame from reality and personal frustration. However, the awakening of civil society protests in 2014 and the attempts to structural changes in the established after 1989 political status quo gradually gaining momentum, and this gives grounds to look into the future with hope.