Remember the importance of SELF I · photograph · 2009

Each of us is important and who we are is more important than the gap which exists between the life we dreamt of and the life we have.

Remember the importance of SELF II · photograph · 2009

Remember the importance of SELF III · photograph · 2009

More than 30 people hold aloft three sumptuous purple cloths on poles to form a canopy or palanquin. As the procession moves through the streets of Schöppingen in Germany, the performers raise the palanquins over people they meet who are going about their everyday activities.

Remember the importance of SELF shares a moment of richness and prestige. The work is a small oasis, a moment of pageantry which injects something out of the ordinary into the known and the familiar. It endows a sense of worth and inclusion.

Remember the importance of SELF IV · photograph · 2009

Remember the importance of SELF V · photograph · 2009

Remember the importance of SELF is a visual metaphor that asks us to value who we are and not measure ourselves against the ideals we are sold. Art can serve to alter the way we understand the world. It can also be a source of solace.