I think we see the idea behind this piece more often than we think. The idea that we smile because we don't want people to know what's really going on inside. With the case of these four men, there is some obvious pain involved. To smile for that long is a physically painful thing, and the artist didn't even mention what other pains were apparent in their lives that were hiding behind the smiles.
But we've been told not to wear our unhappiness on our sleeves, else we'll become unattractive, or draw unwanted attention. So, we smile and hide what we should address. Perhaps not so openly as a smile, but in this right way. This may be discomfort, pain, depression and the like. It comes as a real blow to admit that you may be experiencing one of these, so we ignore it I think. Because, after all, everyone else around us is smiling. So why not I?
But we've been told not to wear our unhappiness on our sleeves, else we'll become unattractive, or draw unwanted attention. So, we smile and hide what we should address. Perhaps not so openly as a smile, but in this right way. This may be discomfort, pain, depression and the like. It comes as a real blow to admit that you may be experiencing one of these, so we ignore it I think. Because, after all, everyone else around us is smiling. So why not I?
It's interesting to think about how we're told to just bottle up our negative emotions and try to stay positive, and if it goes too extreme on the other end of the spectrum, being so incredibly positive is just as uncomfortable for viewers as being incredibly negative.
ReplyDeleteI think you really capture the essence of this piece. It is a struggle to hide our feelings and we spend the whole day doing so so of course there is a strain on us. IT is like we hold a weight and we never get a real rest
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Chase. Sometimes we simply smile because it's an easy way to avoid people probing us. However, we should not bottle up emotions, we need someway of letting go of our emotions.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it better without myself. Most of the time we're forced to wear that smile that doesn't mean anything to us at the time. And it's a way to fit in with the rest of the crowd. But that ultimately hurts us even more.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it better without myself. Most of the time we're forced to wear that smile that doesn't mean anything to us at the time. And it's a way to fit in with the rest of the crowd. But that ultimately hurts us even more.
ReplyDelete