elysium

“Elysium” is a series i produced to express our fixation with religion to be the foundation of our identity. Everything associated with religion is a myth. Maybe created by people to dictate righteous behaviour in a time when science had yet to unlock the many mysteries of the world. And so, humans resorted to believing in the existence of a divine power that needed to be impressed in order to maintain order in their lives.

We used to have a collective identity like all other creatures and our individuality was built on how we managed to fend for ourselves and our loved ones. Duties were divided based on how we were created, and we adapted to the forces of nature like any other creature.

Religion seems to have made us lose our way, to a point that we can kill to uphold a mythical belief of some sort of a promised heaven after death. The gods shall invite us there if we please them. And to please them we shall not hesitate to destroy all that we’ve got. Our planet which is the real promised land, the real elysian field, is being destroyed bit by bit in hope to selfishly gain something no one has seen or been to.

A desire to build some supreme identity for ourselves has led some of us down a path were, instead of harmony, there seems to be more discord.

Through this series I aim to invite viewers to think about the following idea – Wouldn’t it be nice to just hit a reset button and start again with a new and improved us? Use what we know today to build a new identity that accommodates for how we feel today and accept a belief in the new realities that we experience today.

: Uncultured

: Collective Identity – As humans, we all have one collective identity. Behind physical appearances we are more alike than different. Like all creatures, we belong to one common species.

: Food – Similar to all living creatures our basic need to survive is food. The one thing that binds us all one common quest is the search for sustenance.

: Shelter – We are no different from other organisms in our hunt for a safe shelter. After food, shelter from the elements in necessary for our survival

: The Hunter – To fend for our loved ones and to find a source of sustenance, we developed the skill to hunt much like the other animals on this planet.

: Family – Similar to other animals, humans are social creatures and thrive in the company of other like them. We do not like being alone.

: Religion – While humans evolved over millions of years with some basic needs to survive somewhere in the process, these rules of survival took a rather sinister turn. Social structures that emerged as a result debated about whose method of leading the “correct life” were accepted by all. Worship, as a concept, could have evolved because of our limited understanding about nature. But it morphed into a religious ideology because of our carnal instinct of establishing superiority over all things around us. Symbols, rituals, traditions all became part of one social group claiming dominance over the others.

: The gaze – Strategising, deceiving, social grouping that were essential survival instincts against the elements of nature became attributes of ill-notions against fellow human beings

: Weapons – Tools invented by humans for hunting, gathering and farming soon were deployed as weapons to be used in this fight for dominance. Weapons to kill our own kind were a product of the one superior gift of nature to mankind – The ability to think and rationalise. So ironic.

: War – Factions evolved based on inequities of numbers within social groups, reserves in stock for survival and the greed to hoard more and establish dominion led to violence. Man fighting man while the rest of the planet watched the mayhem helplessly.

: The Martyrs – The few weak who bravely stood up against injustice had only one choice and that was to perish. Death to few was far better than a life of subordination. Being subordinate in terms of religious beliefs or material needs, its all the same when dignity is trampled at its core.

: Submission – Wars have only one of two results, submit or perish. The weak have no choice but to submit. Be it religious conversions, imperial rule or unjust laws, the common man learns to live with injustice because we have not yet evolved to overcome our natural instinct to exist. The gift of thought could very well one day lead to humankind evolving to consider life itself unworthy.

: Elysium – Every religion boasts of an afterlife, a heaven, where the world is a lot more just than here on earth. I wonder, where this world is? Who has seen it? Where did this idea come from? And why? This planet is the one heaven afforded to mankind. We have collectively destroyed most of it and we seem to be racing faster than before to demolish it completely. Is that why we have come to please our minds into accepting a better place where all of us just go into a reset mode and try again? Have we all come to an agreement that this planet is not worth saving anymore?

: The wisemen – while we continue to fight with each other, there are a few of us who see the impending doom and are trying to make amends to prolong the inevitable. The state, the citizens, the corporates are all coming together to find ways to heal the world. While the wisemen are at it, it still appears that this instinct of dominance and superiority rears its ugly head to make a just cause also appear deceitful. Opposing groups, climate change deniers, religious fundamentalism, corrupted democratic institutions, totalitarian states etc…present a formidable resistance to what is now clearly visible as an end to this world. In this cacophony, how many are listening to the wise nature as it continues to plead for mercy and healing?

: Alone – Each one of us stands alone today. It is up to each one of us to save this planet. Can we head back to the notion of a collective identity and shed all facades and layers that hide that core layer of humanity.

: Subordination – The alternative is to carry on discriminating based on class, creed, colour, sexual orientation, income divides, gender biases…and the list goes on and on. Just discriminate to subordinate. The planet is getting smaller and smaller with this mindset. Nature is driving us into a corner.

: Destruction – While we are at war with each other over a myriad of differences, the ones suffering are the only elysian fields afforded to us – this earth

: Society – While we all crave to be unique and different from others we do need all of us with our differences for that very purpose. Can differences be celebrated instead of being dissented? Couldn’t that make us a better species and more adaptable to evolutionary changes?