Raw

This photostory was published in the LSR College Magazine, 2019

You look at the grey under someone’s eyes and you know how many nights have been wasted. Those lacklustre eyes tell a story which can be heard only when the lights go dim. The lines of their faces etching another narrative, adding another perspective to the universal truth. Whilst those tales carry a burden of scars, there are faces engulfed in pinches of happiness, content with a full flow of life throbbing in them. A complex network of feelings collide against each other and a full range expressed on one’s face. An ongoing constant process of adorning an assumed identity, resulting in a layered unmasking of the subtle emotions to reveal the reality that lies beneath them. Yet to build a castle, incidents and accidents will transpire introspection and retrospection. The face is a multi-faceted and its complexities are intricately linked with identity. A person fashions their own face to present to the society, modifies their face through whatever method, all in the effort to align their inner identity with their exterior, physical one. Since it’s the face that performs as the indicator of gender, culture, ethnicity, etc- the face brings out your identity for others to read. Faces also acts as the index of one’s mind and character. It reflects the inner feelings of an individual, although at times is beautifully masked away per one’s insecurities. Yet, your face is a stage that produces sentiments, thoughts, moods and emotional feelings in a very strong way. Your countenance weaves the whole narrative of your stories, and decides your character in this world. Your face is a mirroring of your life- the journey of a mind, the creation and reflection of your inner identity, and the constant battlefield for the same. Capturing someone’s face is powerfully influenced by context and our own biases and preferences. A hundred perspectives could be provided for one raw image; it all depends on how you see it and what you feel when you do. But portraits still manage to open windows to the souls of an individual and lets you catch a glimpse of it. Here’s a gallery of these portraits of life in the basic hues of emotions, hushing you with little anecdotes and stories.