On Thursday, I was fortunate to have my image (along with 4 other incredible images) chosen to be reviewed and reacted to as part of the Artist’s Forge May Photo Challenge. During the wonderfully kind and insightful feedback from all the moderators, host Nicole York asked if I could post the back story and inspiration for the image.
My inspiration came from numerous similarly styled images I had seen online that depicted a sense of hiding and covering up yourself…’hiding from the world’ as one viewer mentioned. My interpretation came from my feelings the last year of being an artist struggling to create a business, to be noticed, and taken seriously in the world of Conceptual Fine Art, and Book Cover Design.
The faces in the background (and yes Matt there are actually 3) are each symbolic of a part of the artistic process I find myself going through. On image left is a model that we collaborate with, this represents the business pressures…the commitments to others, meeting and exceeding their expectations while still holding down a full-time job. The image on the right is of me, indicative of the immense pressures we put upon ourselves…self doubt, feeling not as worthy, or in my case you are too old to be trying to start this now. Thirdly, but definitely the most important one, is in the middle and that is of Sharon...it is faint and small but that was done intentionally. She is my partner in life and in business, my biggest supporter, but often her words are overpowered and quieted by the other two. But no matter what, she is always there and has my back.
Okay on to the main image lol.
The hands on the head hold so many meanings, but Nicole’s analogy of it looks like her anxiety feels and Bekka’s see-no-evil were basically bang on! At times it feels like my head is going to explode and I struggle to hold it all inside. I just want to bury my head in my hands, and not wanting to look incase I see failure (evil)…there’s that damn acceptance and need for affirmation lurking again.
Bassam was very astute in noticing the posture and crossed arms and he mentioned it as defiant. This is arguably my greatest strength…I’M STUBBORN!…I have always lived by the motto “Failure is NOT an option…I will not quit, I will not give up, no matter what.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, please feel free to comment.
David