November 10, 2016 @ 11:35 CET






Dear Ivan,

In light of yesterday’s events, there is undoubtedly a lot to say. I was silent for an entire day yesterday, thinking. I had hoped that the worldwide trend towards nationalism and isolationism would not manifest itself powerfully enough to claim the 2016 US presidential election.

Yet, I had resigned myself to the realisation that if this did happen, reality would be completely ignored by the victor. In hindsight, it seems like this might be the only possible wake up call.

I do not know what to do with this realization. I have many ideas of course, but achieving them with our politics seems impossible. And yet I still believe, even if this becomes a darker age – which I somehow doubt, but then again – that whatever is happening can benefit to society in the long run. The pendulum swings.

My fear is that political organisations are making the same mistake, frantically working to accurately describe this newly found demographic , that they then can at best connect to, or at worst electorally exploit.

This new demographic will be analysed and understood, the people quantified and characterized. A new definition will be created, cutting through traditional lines of income, gender, race, sexual orientation, and class. And yet the feeling of someone proclaiming they understand you might be the very reason for the uprising.

What if we stopped trying to categorise, for a little while.

I’m leaving for Amsterdam now. Visiting dear friends, and looking to purchase a bicycle with a good personality. 


#image_by_image is an ongoing conversation between photographers Ivan Sigal and Anton Kusters.
@ivansigal @antonkusters on Instagram