#journalistnotes

Thinking about the idea for the project, I wanted to change my approach from following the form to following the process, in order to be challenged and pushed into the unknown by the research, trial, and failure.

The other foundation for my choice of the topic was a trigger. I’m always drawn towards personal interest and deep spiritual and psychological development, and often I prefer not to share it before I come to a conclusion or revelation myself. That is the reason why for this project the trigger was more than just a reflection of my views on life and the world. It touched my moral code as a human being that I identify with and, in my understanding, by carrying this ‘title’ I want to transmit the responsibility for my decisions that support or harm other humans and other beings.

I’ve decided to work with something that is truly important to me on a wider scale of existence, that spreads beyond my own egocentric being. I do not judge or blame anyone for their decisions, and I choose for myself to expand my horizons to unify with the world in all its expressions and colors, and by talking about the beauty and gore of the world, I express my being, dedicating precious time and the gift of speech to it.

THE GRIND or the “Grindadráp” (often shortened to “grind”) is the controversial, traditional community whale hunt for pilot whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands, a centuries-old practice where pods are driven to shore and killed by licensed hunters, a significant part of Faroese culture and history but facing modern criticism. It's a community-organized event, distinct from open-ocean whaling, involving herding the marine mammals to a bay or beach.

I want to note that I am not here to express any opinions towards the event and the culture around it, but to cause a discussion and contemplation about the world and its expressions of human culture, blended with its brutal history of survival and adaptation. As a journalist and an artist, I want to keep my intellectual opinion to myself, and to reflect on what the tendencies of a blinded and violent consumerist culture do to me as a being, triggering primordial animalistic memories, pushing me into a fight-or-flight mode and daily anxiety.