April 15, 2014
April 15, after sleepless night because of lunar eclipse 3:42-ish am. And it snowed…
I’ve begun to think of my face as a mask, in all this clicking, writing, posting and painting of it. It’s a mask that I make and change according to what parts of myself I wish to present. Actually, that’s not even completely honest – sometimes I use parts of other people in my own face, to top off the presentation. This is stealing, but also a form of flattery…
Half-face (my left side, which is your right)
I chose parts for my mask based on what kind of response I’d like to receive, and from whom. My dad once asked me why I wear makeup (I was 17 I think). I said: “Oh, habit”. But really it was a mask.
My right, your left.
I’ve been receiving lots and lots of feedback from people reading this Selfie Post blog. Many many takes on Selfie, on social media, on self-awareness, sharing energies, non-verbal communication, and also several from men (or women? not clear) who would like to get to know me better, maybe we could get a drink sometime, can I have your phone number. All of it is fascinating, some of it VERY articulate and informative, and the latter… well.
Interesting to me that in the five years I’ve been writing this blog, nobody’s responded until now by asking me out for a drink while referencing the size of their sex organ. Selfie power indeed, James Franco.
Good reference photo for painting. Also part of the mask?
Is there an implied intimacy in these photographs I’ve taken & posted of my face? There must be. I am the person behind the mask after all, taking pictures of the mask. I gaze with trust back at myself.
I’ve come to think we are all of us starved for intimacy, on some level. Intimacy requires vulnerability, which when shared requires trust – of both self and other. In this fear-based world of ‘what if?’ insurance payments, trust is … all too rare.