Joanna Lero

"Now, there are times when a whole generation gets caught to such an extent between two eras, two styles of life, that nothing comes naturally to it since it has lost all sense of morality, security and innocence." - Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

Polish-born, London-based, influenced by h...but this history belongs to a different world... Somewhere in the negative space of our world dwell Ghosts of people who split from their Shells, as they do not know how to fit into the world as one whole anymore. They just want to create, experience and feel but the outside world, guarded by algorithms thriving on noise, is rendering all they say as silent. That's why those who do not manage to find a way to transform and adapt to the new world will simply disappear. " I am not creating some fictitious world. I honestly believe this is a reconstruction of our world right now. For a while now I have felt as if the world skipped a couple of turns and I woke one day in a reality where what I figured myself to be, has no right to exist anymore." 

The first single - "If you hear my voice", was like a message in a bottle thrown out to the sea of algorithms. It was a voice demanding to be heard while it's continuation, the new single - "I may hear you too"  is a realisation that because of the tools we have all been given, everyone expects to be listened to and hence no one feels they need to listen to anybody else. "We live in a silent film-like world. We contribute to so much noise that we cancel each other out and nothing is heard, nothing is truly felt anymore; we all talk but there is no voice coming out unless the intertitles (algorithms) will let you get through with your message and it's like an instant gratification that makes us feel valid for a while but it's all an illusion. " 

Lero draws parallels between the situation we are in right now and the revolution in cinema that happened in the 1920s when technology granted actors a voice and most of them didn't manage to transition into the new era and disappeared from the scene. The project intends to work across a lot of different media, with music being the main focus but also expanding onto videos and journals that push the "storyline" forward. For the first time, Lero fully produces her music from start to finish but the aim of the project is to encourage co-operation and invite other creatives to contribute their own "journals from the negative space". 

By removing herself from this world in order to truly tune in to it, Lero is searching for her own small space that she can occupy. Even if the project doesn't aim at providing any answers or solutions in the face of this ever-changing world of artificial intelligence and data, at least perhaps she could reach out to other Ghosts separated from their Shells; sometimes knowing you are not alone is all you need.