Transcendence, Team RiRi y los 73 Retratos

Our constant craving for evolution and transcendence, especially with regard to our personal circumstances and actions, is the most lucid evidence we have of ourselves as spiritual beings on a human, flesh and blood, brick and mortar journey. When we say we want to "just get past" or "move beyond" something we're not just talking temporally. Time continues it's monotonous march forward whether we fucking like it or not. There's a part of "getting past" something that's about memory and how it connects to emotion. For the most part, you ain't moved past something if the memory of it elicits an emotional response. A pain. A pang. A flip in the gut. A lump in the throat. A chair through a window. No one has gotten past Chris Brown's beating of Rihanna. Not even Chris Brown.

Naomi Williams, an acquaintance I'd met through my flatmate during my first year in Barcelona, approached me at a wedding reception and asked if I'd participate in her photo project on domestic violence, La Próxima Eres Tu. The twisted irony of where this conversation took place is not lost on me. No portent, there. The couple is beautiful. Nevertheless, Spain lost 73 women to domestic violence incidents in 2010. Naomi wanted to dedicate a portrait to each one. The idea came to her like so many of mine come to me: over coffee. "I don't know...I was just reading the newspaper one day--this is when the number was still at 60-something--and I just thought, this is ridiculous! I want to do something," the Dutch/Dutch Caribbean native says of her inspiration.  Naomi told El Periodico, "The idea is to let people know that they have to act quickly, that if they see signs of domestic violence in a neighbor or loved one's home, they should ask about it, take action...", as there's no moving beyond without it.

In Spain, 68% of all murders are domestic violence-related. Whatever the numbers are for the States, in the end, we're still talking about the Chris Brown-Rihanna incident because people die at the hands of loved ones. And far too often.

The exhibit opened last Friday at Galeria Cosmo on Enric Granados, featuring 30 of the portraits taken. Each captured qualities that comprise relationship, ranging from conflict and rage to trust and bond. I appeared in two portraits and only regret that I didn't take a moment to dedicate the photo shoot to the two fallen women in whose honor those portraits were being taken, send up a prayer for the domestic violence survivors I've personally known across the 3 continents I've lived on, or at least play some Ri-Ri.

If you're in Barcelona, check out La Próxima Eres Tu at the Centro Cívico Guinardo from April 8th-19th.