"What do we mean by "People"?

The French translation of the English term "People" refers to "Le Peuple," a particular group such as a nation, a social class, a country, or ordinary people. However, the word "People," borrowed from English, refers to individuals belonging to an elite. In the English-speaking world, this elite appropriates the term "People" and becomes the "People" instead of the actual "People."

"People" like Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard have made headlines with their marital disputes. They have dominated the media and, in a sense, have become the media. While Depp/Heard, West/Kardashian, Pitt/Jolie, Harry/Meghan, and others occupy the media stage, there is no room left for the people of Sudan, Gaza, Ecuador, Yemen, Afghanistan, Chile, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and so on.

In the early 2000s, actor George Clooney's campaign against the massacres in Darfur briefly brought media attention to the atrocities committed by the genocidal Islamist military regime in Sudan that had been ravaging Darfur since the early 1990s. How many Clooneys would it take for the media to cover the massacres around the world? How many Kardashians would it take to bring peace to the world? How many Pitts would it take to prevent Africans from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea?"

- Excerpt of the foreword of the exhibition PEOPLE VS. PEOPLE, Hassan Musa (October 2023) 

Photographies courtesy of the Galerie Maïa Muller