Man at Home
Massimo is from Ethiopia and lives as a homeless person for more than two and a half years in an Athenian neighborhood. He spends his time painting relentlessly in his hut while finding food and colors for his paintings in a supermarket’s garbage can. He smokes the cigarette ends thrown by cars driving by and wanders around gently and elusively between the conventional actuality and his own dreamy and deeply lived personal space. Just as a monk dedicates himself to his own personal path, Massimo sees this temporary state of his as a process of strengthening his consciousness, as an experience of initiation into a reality defined by his sensitivities, in which he remains pure and calm, being aware of his mission. He doesn’t cavil, nor does he grumble about the state he is in, he simply observes it. He doesn’t see it as an affliction but as a path of self-awareness, an experience of transition from a weak and dependent social contract he had consented to, into a state of awakening and inwardness. “Before, when I was part of the society, I was weak. This – pointing at his hut – is my strong consciousness”.