The study of History has been presented as a model based on the narration of facts focused on dates.
The Nouvelle Histoire emerged opposing this old model by accepting the challenge of focusing on ordinary individuals and putting a name and a face to those characters who had been cast into oblivion.
‹‹The daily routine is every man’s life. There is no such man, regardless of his ‘insubstantiality’, who can merely live the daily routine, although it would mainly absorb him. The daily routine is the life of the man who is complete […] ››*
Bordieu claimed that habitus, those every day activities which give shape to people’s lifestyles, should be classified according to the social class people belong to. Thus, the working class bases its daily routine on what is needed whereas the upper class does it on what is desired according to its preferences and cultural demands. As a response to such contrast, Thornstein B. Veblen proposed the existence of a new social class, “the leisure class”, promoting it as the social class that lets the others perform the less pleasant tasks to be able to carry out the most appealing ones.
The Other Side represents the routine of diverse individuals in order to manifest the importance of daily routine by decontextualizing a fictional character and showing its adaptation to our world.
About Jorge Pérez Higuera
Jorge Pérez Higuera was born in Guadalajara (Spain). He received his BA from Complutense University of Madrid, and his MFA from the Politechnic University of Valencia. Jorge lives and works between Madrid and London.
Jorge’s practice has focused primarily on decontextualizing the daily routine which is based on the observation and analysis of human behavior and its archetypes. His work tries to capture the result of his observation through reproductions which place authenticity over reality. Considering diverse models, hi prefers those coming from the popular culture (cinema, television comics literature…) due to their power to create new personalities society can identify with. Jorge’s photographs have been exhibited internationally and have been published, such as Wired, CNN, BBC, The Telegraph or El Mundo among others, and are included in many private collections. [Official Website]
* Heller, A. 1977. Sociología de la vida cotidiana. Barcelona, Ediciones Península.
