New self-portrait, yo
Jean Albus
I am in love with faces. All manner of faces. Kindly faces, crinkly faces, faces of the young, faces furrowed with experience, exuberant faces and faces weighed down by circumstances, perceptive faces, faces devoid of intelligence, faces alight with curiosity, faces from which the light of all outside interest has faded. In each face is my face, I think, because I’ve also been kind and cruel, I’ve been young and marked by age. I too have been clever and I’ve been stupid beyond all measure, I’ve been curious and so very weary of always being curious. I’ve been all those things, and so have you. So have you.
This face, this specific face — I’ve looked at this face in photographs for maybe half a decade. I’ve seen smiles and frowns from this particular face, grimaces and grins, I’ve seen many of the expressions we expect to see in a self portrait — and more than a few that were unexpected. Most of all, in this face I’ve seen honesty and integrity and the beauty that comes with those qualities.
It’s silly, of course, to suggest the face of Jean Albus is a universal face. But it’s also silly to think it isn’t. Those of you looking at this face will see something of yourself in it. You can’t help it; if it’s there in her, it’s there in you. If it’s there in you, it’s there in her. Whoever you are, this is your face. Whoever you are, I am in love with your face. You should be in love with it too.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
