My friend, the poet Dennis DuBois attended the vernissage of “Middle Distance” – my exhibition of photographic images and book launch.
Dennis had a grand time, took a few rotten photographs and then went home to create a little collage for me. Such a kind gesture, but he was in for a shock when something peculiar emerged before his eyes.
Her Soulful Face Revealed
How did it come about?
At my desk
the day after your publication
celebration party,
I was looking over pictures taken
with an unsteady hand.
Most were fuzzy.
Only one clear image of you but
poorly angled,
crowded out
by the right margin, showing only
half your face.
At play,
I duplicated the image, cut
all else away,
paired the two, side by side,
which created a curious
juxtaposition.
Encouraged, I toyed further with it,
manipulating the image,
distorting it, smearing it, adding
shapes, changing color.
In a different scenario I might
have been a tailor
assisting you in your choice of gown,
decoration, accoutrements.
As I am now, experimenting rapidly
with your image,
trying on different treatments
for color, fit, and pattern.
Transfixed and deeper in,
I stumbled
into this profound space.
Shocked at first,
the image, unmanageable,
became an entity on to itself.
Not a mask,
but made up of parts of you.
Gone was the face
seen in the mirror,
The visible, external parts
you show others, now inverted,
showing something
eternal.
You may not recognize him or her,
as I did not at first,
but I urge you not to draw back
in fear
or take flight.
Could it be your animal self?
your anima or animus,
one of the many
who’ve taken up residence
inside you?
The energy may shift, the image
may alter or vary
in mysterious turns,
changing again, and again,
so difficult is it to lock onto,
transforming, as it does, from
instant to instant.
But for this moment
there you were, clear to me, perhaps,
unknown to yourself,
your soul,
who you really are, what you
really look like,
underneath.
Needless to say, odd as it was,
a joy
to meet you in this way.
–5 December 2018 Dennis Michael DuBois
Heather Gartside 