assignment
A Portrait of You. . .on any given day, is a sort of social study of the days in the lives of us, humans being. It’s an up close and personal look at who we perceive ourselves to be and consequently, how we operate in the world around us.
Since the day we were born, someone has probably been taking our picture, cataloging our life on film. If we were to get out that box or that book or even open that drawer and begin to rifle through those photographs we may start to reflect on how a particular time in our lives shaped us or a certain person influenced us in one way or another. These portraits tell the stories of our individual lives, yes, however, just like all the cells in our respective bodies work together to form and operate their particular mass at task, so do we as humans all operate as One. All of our experiences and journeys collectively form the human life experience.
Our hope with this project is to help us recognize this Oneness as we learn through sharing our experiences that we are not so different from the next. As humans being we can be quick to judge, to look beyond our own landscape and see the fault or the beauty in others, disassociating ourselves or aligning ourselves depending on the climate of what we see. We can be filled with jealousy, envy, self righteousness, fear, guilt, resentment, resistance and sadly sometimes, even hate. Alternatively we can be filled with benevolence, desire, patience, courage, innocence, and inspiration; hopefully at some point in our lives we can experience the gift of giving and receiving unconditional love. We are all immaculately imperfect and it is these imperfections that present opportunity to be inquisitive, to peel away the layers and see what is truly in there. It is with this exploration that we then begin to grow.