Envision a time when early humans roamed. They walked around, naked, not knowing what clothes were, not knowing the material world. Their physical responses told them to find sustenance; their natural sense of defense warned them to find a place where they would be safe. Protected from the unknown. But there came a moment when basic needs to survive were fulfilled easily, as curiosity seeped in and humans ventured further out. Out of their comfort zones and into the big place we now call the world.
I used to think myself as a citizen of the world. I travelled far and wide to destinations unknown; as a photographer and journalist I captured the world through my lens and my mind, and the only other thing I needed was my passport.
A passport, an item seemingly small, may hold the key to our future. With a passport nowhere is too strange a place to stay in, albeit for a limited time. Eventually, one has to go back to his or her abode, as everyone belongs somewhere. But what if I wanted to belong someplace else with someone else? I then get scrutinized by the system that created this small travel document. I become an ordinary citizen.
Where do we have to go to live freely? I ask myself.
Only in my dreams I can go wherever I want. Only in my sleep I can choose not to wake up to reality. Only in my mind I can travel freely as a citizen of the world.
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