pay attention to that man behind the curtain

on the playlist:
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Snow Patrol - Take Back the City
The Ting Tings - Shut up and Let Me Go



Self-portraits have always intrigued me. You can tell a lot about how a person thinks or feels about his or herself by looking at a self-portrait. It is the unconscious aspect of relating ones' self image that intrigues the onlooker. The body language, composition, posture, negative and positive spaces, and even missing ears.

Take a self-portrait of yourself. Be it a drawing, painting, sculpture, doodle, photograph. What do you see? And what do other people see?




***
Not being able to sleep, I decided to clean my DVD collection a little bit. Upon opening an old tin can, I found a DVD of photographs I had made two years ago of my life in Italy. A little jog down memory lane reminded me of a plaque on the pier of Capri that caught my attention. I remember asking Nicola, my favorite italian professor, if he knew what poem it was. Rather than answering me, he sang a song:

Tu, luna luna tu, luna caprese,
ca faje sunná ll'ammore a 'e 'nnammurate...
adduorme a nénna mia ca sta scetata
e falla 'nnammurá cu na buscía.
Tu, luna luna tu, luna busciarda,
famme passá sti ppene 'e gelusia
e fa' ca nénna fosse tutt''a mia...
Tu, luna luna tu...Luna caprese!...

Luna Caprese - Cesareo, Ricciardi (1953)

Good times. My happy place.