SÉBASTIEN ZANELLA FOREVER OUTSIDER

AS A TEENAGER, I ALWAYS ADMIRED OUTSIDERS, THE PEOPLE WHO COULD NEVER STAY ON THE RIGHT TRACK, AND THE SKATEBOARDERS AND SURFERS I KNEW WERE THE BEST AT IT. THEY NEVER SAW A BENCH OR A WAVE AS JUST A BENCH OR A WAVE, THE STREET OR THE SWELL AS SIMPLY THE STREET OR THE SWELL. THEY SAW BEYOND THE OBVIOUS. THEY SAW SO MUCH MORE THAN MERE CONCRETE OR A BODY OF WATER. SCIENCE, SHARED DREAMS AND THE WORLD THEY LIVED IN WERE NOTHING, BECAUSE THEY WERE FREE... FREE TO MAKE NOTHING OF THEIR LIVES, TO THROW AWAY A POTENTIALLY GLITTERING FUTURE IN ORDER TO REALLY LIVE, WITH THEIR INNOCENCE AS THEIR COMPASS.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, ANTHONY VACCARELLO ASKED ME TO CREATE AN EXHIBITION AND A BOOK FOR SAINT LAURENT RIVE DROITE THAT REPRESENTED AN EXTRACT OF TIME DIVIDED BETWEEN BELGRADE IN SERBIA AND SIARGAO IN THE PHILIPPINES IN APRIL 2022, BY DOING WHAT I TRY TO DO BEST: KEEPING MY ILLUSIONS ALIVE THROUGH CONTACT WITH THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO DREAM.