Explorations from a single image (4-1, Part 1)

I was thinking about how most of the images I was drawn to in my walk around TC were about either wrapping or peeling.  Wrapped pipes and peeling paint.  I was interested in the fact that these two ideas opposed each other nicely.  Covering vs. exposing.  Comforting vs. opening wounds.  I wanted to explore these opposing concepts further in my two ideas.

One idea I had was to relate these two concepts to my feelings about TC.  I feel both comfortable and raw in this place.  I grew up going to elite institutions and immersing myself in learning environments.  A university where the smart and driven gather to try and turn themselves into the best teachers possible so they can make the world a better place for future generations should be where I feel most comfortable.  But something feels very wrong about being here at this particular point in history.  Being tucked away in an elite institution quietly racking up debt at a time when innocent people are being killed in the streets and a madman is terrifyingly close to the presidency feels wrong.  But I don't know what would be right.  I wanted to explore this idea of feeling swaddled, yet off and raw and uncomfortable.  My thought was to create a series of photographs of a figure in my fluffy pink bathroom wandering around campus barefoot.  I want the photos all to look awkward and for the figure to look exposed and unsure.

I also wanted to think about wrappings more.  Wrappings create mystery.  They cover an object, making it so we can only guess at what is inside.  I thought about Christo and Jeanne-Claude's giant wrapped objects.  I wanted to relate this idea to my own life.  What do I wrap myself in to cover what is going on inside?  I realized that I wrap myself in smiles.  I smile as I nervous response.  I smile when I'm angry.  There's even a video of me smiling and waving right before leaping off a bridge with a bungee cord strapped to my ankles.  This is how I was raised.  In Connecticut, you smile through everything.  Expressions of intense emotion can be hurtful to others and must be avoided at all costs.  It's a hard habit to kick.  My idea from this is to do a portrait of a forced smile.  Either a series of photos of a person smiling for an hour or two (maybe one photo taken every 10 minutes), or a photo of a person with their lips forced into a smile with string and rubber bands.