AD5803 - A long term project: In Veritate Victoria!

Last week, we talked in class about post-truth and we looked at photo books challenging the boundaries between truth and fiction. There are two books in particular that gave me the inspiration for a possible long-term project that I would like to undertake. The books are: "Deconstructing Osama" by Joan Fontcuberta and "The Last Testament" by Jonas Bendiksen.

Those two photo books are not only remarkable for the projects themselves but also for their amazing design and the combination of pictures, text and illustrations.

Looking at those books and reflecting on the meaning of post-truth and the role of fake news in nowadays society, I had the idea of a book about the current mainstream conspiracy theories. I am very fascinated by this subject and I would absolutely enjoy to do a project about it which broaden my practice beyond the "strict documentary".

I started thinking about what are the most followed theories nowadays, such as the Flat Earth Society, Creationism, Chem trails... So I started actually doing researches online about those topics, looking at forums, blogs, facebook groups...

I particularly enjoyed the Flat Earth Society official website https://www.tfes.org/ in which I came into their motto: "In Veritate Victoria" (Victory in Truth) and I immediately thought it was the perfect title for a project of this kind.

I started reading all their theories and proofs and I imagined how I could represent them visually. Then I wrote what would be the statement of my project:

"The aim of this project will not be to miscredit any of those theories and their believers, but giving a vivid truthful portrait of our modern day society where everybody is free to call everything and everyone into question, and perhaps be believed. Only the reader will have the choice to judge, considering it as a series of absurd fakes and weirdos, a truthful documentary piece, contemporary art, or complete random trash. I am not expecting to control the message the audience will receive from this work, and although I wanted, would it be even possible? "

I think this project has the potential to become a future long-term collaborative project, which would go further the traditional documentary and expand my practice in new, more creative directions.

I have started a journal in which I wrote down my initial ideas and I am keeping record of facts information that may be useful in a possible future development of the project.