These images could be seen as depicting those responsible for the policy of drowning refugees. The current European Union measures go beyond "refugee deterrence". Today the EU makes use of the catastrophe it caused itself (through support for dictatorships, political intervention in uprisings, continuous wars on terror and economic strangulation of Africa and the Near East) to prepare renewed military intervention behind the back of the population.
Meanwhile, corporate executives have for decades used their global economic reach to enrich their shareholders at the expense of environmental, social and labor standards, causing entire regions to sink into poverty.
The photographic images in the "Stranded" series point to something that might happen in the future as the collapse of the capitalist system as we know it continues. The economic breakdown is already underway: as it spreads and deepens disasters, wars, and uprisings of all kinds will follow. "Stranded" imagines what might happen if the managers of today's economy – those for whom there is no alternative to corporate profit and human loss – were themselves sacked and thrown overboard by the people.
"Stranded" (2015), a series of photographs by Oliver Ressler, will be on display at Artwall Gallery in the framework of Fotograf Festival Prague from 1 October to 30 November 2015.
Source:
Newsletter Oliver Ressler,
September 4, 2015.
www.ressler.at