Nina

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN MAKING?

I have been working on a project, a few conversations between two homeless people and their observation about people on the street.

I got a call from a friend before Christmas, and she said she is having a hard time this year at this time, because she broke up with her boyfriend and she always had a nice time at his familiy’s Christam dinners and she is missing that. Dinners with her family were not as happy as of her ex-boyfrined’s, so she is not so eager to go home for holidays. I completely understand her, I also have mixed memories of spending Christmas with my family. The ones we celebrated with my broader relatives, for example with my cousin’s family and with my aunt, I have great memories of, because we were a group of 20 or more people, singing and dancing and eating really delicious dinners. The ones I have spent only with my family, were not so great because I had at least one fight per night with my father and it always turned out bed for everyone, unfortunatelly. When mine or my sisters boyfrineds were invited though, we had a nice time all together. Like if my family needs and outside person to establish piece and a nice atmosphere, to behave nicely to each other and to have the energy to enjoy.

This year me and Bonino stayed in Rotterdam during holidays and since we have just moved and we don’t know many people here yet, we haven’t been invited to any dinner, so it felt a bit lonely. I love to host or be invited to a dinner, it feels very intimate and it gives me special joy.

I have been walking a lot here, because I don’t have a bycicle, and when I bought one, the tire went flat in a month. I am mainly walking through the city center to school and I find it very strange to see, that there are so many shops. The city center to me basically feels like one big shop. No galleries, no underground spaces, nothing destroyed or damaged, there is only built environment for commerical use. Maybe also the colours have that affect, because everything is quite gray and dark and the winter weather doesn’t help either.

I also miss long walks in forests and walking up the hills, it makes me feel relaxed. In the Netherlands as far as I know there is no ‘wild’ nature. In Slovenia my parents live in the Alps and the nature there is quite beautiful and unpredictible, you can still meet a bear in the forest.

I am quite fascinated about the ways we see homelessnes, how we perceive that as something negative and why are we so opinionated about the people who are homeless. Us if they all had the same story. They might once lived life as we do now, but had a struggle that was too big to continue this lifestyle. Why we don’t judge the system that alows people to live on streets, which happens more in the cities than in countryside. And in cities, where people are so rich, some have to live on the street. Are they unfortunate or are they the rebels? What do they remind us of? What truth they bring? Why are we disturbed by them? Why are we not willing to give someone 1 euro, when we pay rents that are getting way too high and unregulated. Do people feel safe in systems? This brings a new topic, which I am also interested in, talking about life in cities, anonymity, distance, being invisible, being average.

Are homeless people really observing people or is their own struggle big too big, to take notice of others?

Is there homlesness in Metaverse?