We asked our authors and our network to answer three questions on how they are coping with this challenging moment in history. Here is an interview with CARMINE RUBICCO, journalist and, photographer, author of DooG Reporter.
Is there any beauty in the world, even banal, that you have rediscovered in this period?
I would start with the world’s definition of beauty and then see one that has been rediscovered. I interpret the beauty of the world here with an inclusive, comprehensive and multifaceted meaning. The world’s beauty may be the change of pace, a different approach to one’s way of being. As someone said, ‘the world is in the one, and the one there is the world‘ (not Christianly speaking). If, on the other hand, we are talking about a physical place, I can speak of the desert. The beauty of the desert is incomparable. A proactive and growing solitude. Different from the cities.
How do you think your profession has changed or will change?
Change always comes first from within. Of course, after this time, external situations will force me to revise programmes and projects. However, I believe that if one is not ready inwardly to change the way one works, external factors have minimal effect. Let me explain. If I were a ‘passive’ subject before the pandemic, unless I decide to change my approach, I would remain a passive subject afterwards, regardless of what has happened. If, otherwise, I was an active person, albeit among a thousand difficulties, I would still find a way to continue and improve. As far as work in the narrow sense is concerned, it has already changed. Different ways of doing this will have to be found. One thing is sure, what has not changed is the necessity of the work of the reporter and documentarist in our time. On the contrary. Now, it becomes even more important to tell and make known. Perhaps if previously the mind was oriented towards macro-themes developed abroad, the same has taken on a decidedly disruptive value even on our doorstep. It wasn’t like this before, but now it seems urgent to start from close quarters.
A picture, a book and a song that represent this period for you.
An image that represents this period for me is the one taken from a report by Fanpage depicting a doctor in tears. From my point of view, this figure sums up well what has happened, is happening and will happen as tears are an outlet; they can be of regret for what could have been better and of fear for a decidedly uncertain future.
One book is Memories of a Dirty Angel by Henning Mankell, both because of the plot and because it was a book I read in a few days, which had not happened in a long time.
For the song, it is more difficult as these are linked to different moments. If I am looking for a song that symbolises quarantine, it is Sound of Silence in the original version by Simone & Garfunkel. This will highlight our society’s shortcomings before the pandemic and lift the curtain on possible risks of further falsification of reports. And here, we come back to the importance of the reporters’ work. One important thing: reporters and not journalists’ work because accredited journalists’ work is not necessarily honest and truthful.
