the invisible people...
Sometimes we all put a face on it.
How many times have you said you feel fine when the truth is, you feel the exact opposite of fine. Sometimes that face is very convincing. So convincing that you can even persuade yourself that all is well.
We all have different reasons for doing it. We don't want to appear vulnerable, we don't want to upset those closest to us or it may be a form of defence that stops other people getting to know the real you.
This theme of distance and putting up a facade is explored wonderfully in the transparent sculptures by the Korean artist Jin Young Yu (JYY):
My works are about the “invisible people.” I wanted to talk about the stories of the people who said, “I definitely don’t know them, but they knew me so well. They said they worked with me for over a year. To me, that person was a transparent existence that neither did or didn’t exist.”
It was too simple to define them as “the alienated people” or “the depressed people”. Instead, I thought that I, or we, could easily be one of them. My works are about people who, instead of getting along with others, choose to keep a distance from them, and be invisible or be left alone unconcerned. Instead of trying to fit into the world, they climb into a space of their own and reject other people’s intrusions.
My works feign expressionless faces. They are holding their tears back and swallowing them, or they try to put on a cool face despite the traces of tears on their faces. Or simply, they seem to have something hiding behind the hurried pretense of their expressionless faces. Looks on their faces that don’t make people approach them with ease – a subtle look of suspicion and caution keeps others from easily approaching them.
I'm sure at times we all feel invisible….
Queen Marie
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