Money has an incredibly high attraction power. Of course, since it is the most obvious key to a comfortable life, it is no wonder that (almost) everyone wants a slice of the pie. However, when we attain that goal, when we virtually have enough to live decently and secure a roof over our heads, we often want more and more, with no substantial reason.
I often hear many sentences about those hypothetical reasons, things like "Winners always want more", "Money shows your success, your ambition" or "Why not take it if you can". I understand that to some point. I must confess that it can give an exhilarating feeling, like being an eagle overflying the crowd ; not necessarily with any disdain, but with some self-satisfaction flowing through the veins, in the Freudian meaning of the term.
Then you switch your giant TV set on, read some of the newspapers you receive every morning, or talk to relatives and slowly realize that the pie is not infinite. Taking more implies leaving less. Leaving less means some won't have enough for their own direct survival. It is very tempting to ignore that, or even pretend it is false, or "more complicated than that", in order to go on stacking bigger numbers on bank accounts with a light mind.
It is always easy to talk, of course. "Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie", as said Pink Floyd. I believe greed is one of the most (if not the most) fundamental problem of Humanity, which could cause its loss, or at least dramatically slow its evolution. Greed causes largely unbalanced resource sharing, causes envy, causes war, and death. And when direct war is avoided, poverty still forces people to buy the cheapest goods or food, which forces companies to find ways of producing those low-cost goods, and exploiting workers (sometimes abroad in the poorest countries), also killing them in the process, or dramatically reducing their life length. It would be easy to go on blaming on the system, but most people actually support it... even poor ones. We want money, and when we have some, we keep wanting more and more, perpetuating the whole process. No easy solution. Greed is powerful.
Ironically, even the richer persons in the world die. I personally refuse to spend the short amount of time I have on this world running after money. Granted, some is necessary, but I hope I can handle (more or less) my appetite, and avoid dying like the guy on my photo. I like the fact I actually posed for it: it will act like a little self-reminder when choices will come up, either to give up the race when it is time, or either as a consolation when I'm broken!
Some technical facts about the image:
- I shot my auto-portrait in my home studio. I had to cover myself with mud, then my wife help me with some barbecue sauce. By the way, I recommend to NOT use barbecue sauce on the skin, I discovered it irritates it... I had big red marks on the face for a day!
- The money is of course fake. I simply printed some one hundred dollars bills for those that were visible, then used newspapers to make the stacks bigger. My wife was very kind and cut hundreds of those: as usual her help was invaluable.
- A few bills were shot separately (for example, those in my eyes or in my belly).
- The ground was photographed on an empty parking
- The branch comes from my garden
- The processing was rather straightforward: of course, I had to mask and assemble the various photos together, create some shadows here and there, but aside of that, no deformation nor any tricky part.
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 59 Avg (all users): 7.0119 Avg (commenters): 8.0000 Avg (participants): 7.1176 Avg (non-participants): 6.9400 Views since voting: 2849 Views during voting: 295 Votes: 84 Comments: 29 Favorites: 3 (view)
The lengths you go to on your photography just AMAZES me!! You are not just a photographer but a true Artist who spends love and time developing his piece of work! You should be Hung.... As in an Art gallery!! ( LOL )
Seriously I can see a whole show just of your work. You have a style that reminds me of Andy Warhol. Not so much in the look of the piece, but in the fact that your works are Oh so Unique only to you and almost certainly instantly recognizable as a Christophe Original!
Congrats on the red, Christophe! And barbecue sauce...wow, you're one brave guy! (FWIW I find either fake blood or some ketchup mixed with soya sauce looks pretty convincing) And yeah also lol'd at the American money. Great work as always.
Yes, greed can indeed be horrific - but it is the effect of what it does to others, the wake of destruction left behind by those who have money and use it destructively that is what is most horrible. The story of Midas for example- one feels more sorry for those who he 'hurt' (turning his daughter to gold for example) rather than Midas himself. The individual can be misguided by greed - but I feel the true horror lies more in the damage an individual with money and power can do to the community at large. While this piece is top notch work, I feel that this piece is a bit 'incomplete'. You have effectively captured the individual who covets money but I feel it is lacking the other half of what makes greed so horrible - a visual showing the greedy individual willing to step on and push whomever and whatever gets in their way would have made this a 'complete picture'. It is the damage to people and the environment that a greedy individual can and does leave in their wake that shows the horror of what man can do.
Greed
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
