Don't Take it Personal
(the series includes 19 images )
An instruction leaflet
At first glance the spectator is not sure: where to look? So many details - at once composed and chaotic - compete for the eye’s attention. Gradually the eye realizes: every corner, every accessory in the picture, every prop, every angle contributes to the narrative that these details taken together reveal as a mosaic. It is the narrative of a social milieu that suffocates from its weariness and self-importance, while fancying itself in knowing superiority. This series of images portrays those who are often called "privileged" and sometimes "woke".
Charlotte Troll's work "Don't take it personal" simultaneously shocks, delights and amuses. Some images may appear as repulsive; others demand a longer, closer look; still others dare to deliver a loud and joyful message. These are the portraits of a social class that on the surface has or could have everything, that is well informed but despite it all still ends up in misfortune. The photographs pose important questions of our time to those who are often uncomfortable when being confronted with harsh reality because: who wants to give up enjoying their privileges while they envision themselves to be on the "right" side. After all, you demonstrate against climate change … you know how important healthcare is.
The body of work criticizes at the painful point: those who are high up in the social hierarchy structure, who are even aware of the discriminations and inequitable distribution of resources that make these structures possible and promote them in the first place. They, nevertheless cling to these structures in order not to endanger their own position of power. The colorful, good-humored overload of images; the grotesque, abstruse and bold exaggerations that immediately captivate the eye, literally throw the urgent questions of our politically fragile and norms questioning times at the viewer. Does money make you happy? What role does the body and its perception play in society? What does responsibility look like in these crisis that we cause through our modern lifestyles?
Is the individual ego always above the community? And perhaps the most important, concrete question of all: How far does self-deception go, and who wants to finally look in the mirror?
