Drifting through Cityscapes Drifting through Cityscapes MTL final copy | Page 142

CONCEPT
and
ACTION
Having in mind that one person and one gesture can›t change the world, but
has the power to inspire others we decided to do just that. In a short time and
resources we had, we came up with an idea of giving little gifts to our local
homeless people. We decided to make candied apples ourselves, and then
wrap them nicely like a gift and hand them out to all the homeless people we
could find. We decided this small gesture in the shape of a gift is our way of
making them feel human and on the »same level« as us. Because we are not
giving them charity, we are giving them a gift in the true spirit of holidays. Char-
ity is usually associated with the inferiority of the one who is receiving it which
can be demeaning to them, and we didn’t want that. By making the candied
apples ourselves we gave a special ingredient – our love and empathy. We
made sure to wrap them to look like a real gift, with a bow and everything, in
the spirit of upcoming holidays. First of all, an apple is a symbol of health and
life, and candied apples maybe could evoke memories from childhood when
hopefully times were better for them. In the evening we went on our mission,
on the locations we mentioned before, we knew at that time all of them will be
there seeking shelter from cold. The reactions varied from confused, indifferent
to excited. But all of them didn’t expect the candy apple wrapped as a gift.
While giving them our gifts, we just said »here you go« avoiding the phrase
happy holidays, because for them they aren’t, and our gesture isn’t going to
change that very much. Our goal was just to make them feel different, some
would say special, but actually, the right word is normal.
This opportunity we had to engage with
homeless people of the center left an
emotional mark on us. Now we will be
always connected to them in a special
way because we devoted our time to
them. And at that moment when the
candied apples were given, our fear of
unknown people and their actions dis-
appeared, they were just normal people
who gave us a smile back.