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Thailand is just one country among many that faces on-going tensions and the human toll that they take. Sometimes it’s hard to see past the newspaper articles, the talking heads on TVs and the social media status updates, to the bigger picture – the lives of real people. That’s where this inspiring video by Johnnie Walker and artist Spencer Tunick comes in.
It all started in June when Tunick, an American photographer famous for getting people naked (a good skill to have), traveled to Colombia.
Tunick uses nudity to make a statement about peace, unity and other important world issues that don’t get enough attention. Since 1994, he has photographed over 75 large-scale nude shoots worldwide.
In Colombia, Tunick met people from all sides of the conflict between the Government and Farc rebels. He met people who have lost loved ones and even literally parts of themselves all due to this decade-long civil war.
Tunick brought these folks together, naked as the day they were born, in one giant “human installation” to highlight a beautiful universal truth: that it is possible to overcome differences and move forward once you realize we are all just human underneath. The installation conveys the will of the people of Colombia to put the past behind them through the lens Johnnie Walker’s inspiring Keep Walking campaign.
Tunick says that these people are the bravest people in Colombia. Not just for getting naked (and that’s no easy feat; imagine walking around Ratchaprasong in your birthday suit!), but because they are able to forgive, and even stand alongside people they once considered enemies. There’s a lesson in there for all of us in Thailand, too, don’t you think?
Fast forward to today. The first ever peace agreement between the Colombian Government and Farc was rejected in a referendum last month and a revised peace accord is in the works. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos on Dec. 10, 2016 for his consistent efforts to bring the country’s ongoing civil war of over 50 years to an end.
With these history-making moments of conflict and peace in mind, Johnnie Walker’s video gets us thinking about what we can do to bring people together in our own neck of the woods.
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