Live / Leave

Based on global data provided by the World Health Organization, Live/Leave is a record of the state of our mental health through statistics showcasing suicide rates around the world. Highlighting individual choices, the installation could be interpreted as the state of happiness across the globe. There are obviously many disparities depending on the region, standard of living, age and gender of the individual, and each cause or circumstance of suicide could be analyzed rationally, but beyond the statistics, the issue of suicide confronts us with the fundamental question as posed by Albert Camus: "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest comes afterwards." In this collection of perforated blank canvases, the size of the black holes is defined according to the number of suicides per 100 000 inhabitants per country. The figures are thus converted into holes, translating a sense of absence. Live/Leave questions our desire to live through those who, every 40 seconds somewhere in the world, make a different choice.