A L E X G A W R O N S K I

Last Days, 2020

‘I’ve Never Seen the Sky Like This Before…’, Southwest Contemporary, Adelaide

(Digital print on gloss photographic paper)

The exhibition into which this work was curated was a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, and as a result of which, it has become increasingly clear on multiple fronts, that for many in positions of power, what matters most is the continuation at all costs of the economy in its present extractive neoliberal guise.

Regardless of the life-and-death risks associated with the virus, those who live according to the compulsive dictates of ‘permanent growth’, mitigated (tellingly) by seemingly endless austerity measures, may also die by that code (although it’s usually others less fortunate who die first and in greater numbers).

Paradoxical in the current display of heightened avariciousness and capitalist authoritarianism, are perceptions of value set not only against the threat of Covid but of undeniable climate crisis (frequently denied conveniently by capitalist elites). If our very continued existence is threatened, what is the worth of a system of ‘infinite growth’ whose profits increasingly only benefit a ruthless minority? This is a system ‘to the death’. How is anyone going to enjoy ‘huge savings’ when the world is ended? What is saved?