Alter Ego – 2022 Masks and Social Poster Messages in the Project “Youth Dialogues between Continents 2020 – Latvia, Brazil, Hungary, South Africa”

Abstract

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, therefore the publication is based on a comparison of the conceptual images of Alter Ego 2022 masks designed in Latvia since the beginning of the war with the messages of the 2020 social posters of Latvian, Brazilian, Hungarian and South African youth in the global world. It is remarkable that there is only a 2-year gap between the two projects, while at the same time you can see what has changed in young people and what issues have remained the same despite the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the threat of war. In both cases, the idea was to find out how young people feel in their daily lives and in the world, and what worries them.

Thus, in this study, we have analysed and compared both local and global themes, textual values and changes as well as the visual messages of young people influenced by the Ukraine war, in the period 2018-2022.

We concluded that: 1. In order to feel good in everyday life and in communication with society, adolescents need to talk about their problems, ask for help, focus on their inner problems and understand their ALTER EGO This can be improved through the use of expressive tools and forms of visual art such as a “personal mask” and the social poster in art classes. 2. Accessibility, as both exhibitions were displayed in public spaces in Riga (the capital of Latvia) and also made public on websites. They have become important events both locally and globally, as discussions and dialogues have developed in Latvian society, between European countries and between continents – Europe, Africa and South America. 3. On the other hand, limited accessibility was detected precisely at the local level, when, due to restrictions in COVID pandemics and also since the war in Ukraine small-scale exhibitions were only available to students, teachers and staff in the school premises. Limited access to cultural events, coupled with the stress of uncertainty related to the war in Ukraine, creates discomfort, psychological exclusion and exacerbates the social problems of young people, which reflects in the disturbingly tragic works in which teenagers and young people seek answers to questions about their lives and their ALTER EGO.