#R brings together the primary paradigms that must be faced when documenting the European condition: a growing number of photographers that depict—and decontextualize—close-ups of police forces. There are no wide vies, and images are automatically integrated into a much wider visual sphere that includes perceived security, even in the absence of apparent threats, given that all the images have been shot in emergency situations. Fujiwara has gradually accumulated images that represent the police through normal subjects as a counterpart in a nonlinear de-construction of patrolling. #R is the contextual, yet neutral, series among those Fujiwara has created. It is possible to identify the badges and some attitudes, even though they show different origins, as is the case for the shots of police departments in different cities. At the same time, and through constant associations and disassembling, #R features a more general idea of protection: a neutral, benevolent force that is beyond any municipality of strategic assignment; a form of protection rendered necessary by our constant exposure to the unstable situations broadcast in the news; an investigation into the ways security and control are perceived in a time of relative peace.

Words by Luigi Alberto Cippini