The Fog of Democracy

James Porteous worked for ten years as a digital librarian with Al Jazeera English.
In viewing and archiving film footage from around the world he bore witness to countless acts of violence, murder, mayhem and more.

As difficult as it was to watch these scenes, he knew that everything he ‘witnessed’ in the ‘digital world’ was once removed from reality.

The real horrors were taking place in a real world with real people.
They were the ones struggling to survive the constant bombardment of outside forces. They were being attacked by people who had no legal or moral reason to bomb or kill or starve them.

Many years have passed, but The Fog of Democracy has allowed the battle to continue being fought with impunity. It is hidden from TV cameras and op-ed pages and the very bluescreens that never leave our hands.

The Fog of Democracy is a culmination of the things Porteous saw during those years, and in the wars and near-wars since.

It is also a homage - or is it a remembrance?- to the lost, the homeless and the marginalized, whose lives were destroyed simply because they happened to be born in the wrong place - whether in the West or beyond- at the wrong time.

Their lives and dreams can be seen in the characters of Those Left Behind. They know nothing of our world or the fog that shrouds our so-called democracy. They live in a world of barrel-bombs and jet fighters and destruction. The know very well who has killed their sons and daughters and mothers and fathers.

And so do we.