Unavoidable Friends/ Look at Me

An interrogation on the persistence of polluting images. Unavoidable Friends consists of a growing collection of billboard- photography and social media posts. We edited a video-essay called ‘Look at Me‘ to ignite conversations.

When we move around our cities we see printed faces all around. Our eyes see all the time; only if we are blind we can avoid it. Subliminal messages alter our sensitivity.
In a more private setting, we imitate the dream of the commercials becoming billboards ourselves. When we dive in social media the continuum of images (and texts) from our social network is often too intimate,  even paranoid: how did we end up sending messages to our dead parents or unborn children on Facebook? Why do we replicate cold, stereotyped, sexualised postures? What are the effects provoked by the constant bombardment of persuasive visual messages? How can this affect our choices? Does it influence our political attitudes, our lethargy or proactiveness?
We stringed together our social media friends, removing their pictures (their visuality), with faces of our commercial friends. Both always present.

“Those who fail to learn how to decipher photographs will be the illiterate of the future”.
Walter Benjamin

Look At Me

Is face value sufficient? Does a face give proof of the message?