Fear is one of humanity's oldest drives. As a survival mechanism of the species, it has allowed us to recognize the danger, run away or face it. However, in contemporary societies—especially in the West—many of the physical threats that marked our existence have been tamed with protective systems, safety and well-being that mitigate immediate risk: real, perceived or imagined.
In this scenario, the fear doesn't go away: it transforms. If the body is no longer in constant danger, what comes into tension is not only security - represented by the bars, enclosures and domestic and border fences- but also identity. A less visible but equally powerful fear then appears: the fear of that which questions what we believe to be. Nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, class, membership; constructions that organize our position in the world and that, when confronting "the other", reveal their malleable or fragile nature.
This installation is part of a wider project that explores that physical and imaginary border that separates "us" from "others", especially from populations from the global south. An exhibition that invites reflection on how fear moves from the physical to the symbolic, and how art can become a place to recognize, strain and redefine the limits of our identity.
