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Language is the primary lens through which we interpret the world around us. What does it mean to take somebody’s portrait? To understand that act, we need to understand the word. The term ‘portrait’ shares the same roots as ‘portray’; they come from the Latin trahere, meaning to drag or draw, and por-, indicating ‘forth’ or ‘forward.’ When we make a portrait, then, we attempt to draw forth something about the subject.

What is drawn forth here? All the contradictions of late boyhood. A certain brazen front overlaying shyness. A look-at-me exhibitionism in conflict with a don’t-see-me reticence. A growing strength that very nearly covers the vulnerability. An awkward grace or, perhaps, an elegant gawkiness.

All boys experience this. All girls as well. In effect, this isn’t a portrait of any particular person at all; it’s a universal portrait—a universal drawing forth. This is us as we were, this is us as we are, and us as we’ll always be. A cluster of contradictions, an accumulation of incongruities. This is us at our most entirely human moment.

-- greg fallis

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