Judgment

Control Imagery

I felt kinship looking at the crowd already gathering at 10:30 Saturday morning, some photographing the curtain closed over a Kennedy Center wall. The removal of a name from a wall never felt so important. I’ve felt each of his desecrations in my heart physically, appalled that I could actually be seeing giant machines tearing apart the east wing of the White House, where the First Ladies’ offices once were. How did none of us know about this until we saw the event as it happened? Why no debate and discussion? Seeing some of this rescinded is an important reclamation of an image. The Kennedy Center was a memorial to JFK and to the importance of art and culture, so the removal of the name cleans the illegal tag off our national symbol, off values we thought were foundation to our country and instead to create a gilded homage to weakness, changing the imagery of Washington. His image and name all over the capital rubs our nose in what he’s done to the achievements of our best values. It’s consistent with authoritarian aesthetics. Architecture is the medium of power. Giant architecture like an out-of-scale ballroom or a massive arch are meant to make us feel small, overwhelmed by the power of the state The aesthetic of authoritarianism eclipses beauty with statements, names plastered over what held meaning. Rounding up and banishing people from the country is part of the imagery of control. As an article by Cristina Awadalla points out, the physical abuse of particular people and the masked thugs that carry it out are part of the imagery, an intentional spectacle of violent control. Kate Wgner’s column in the May issue of The Nation, points to the warehouses we put people in as ”the clearest expression of fascist architecture in our time.” A cage fight in front of the White House celebrates the culture of violence. Illegal use of the military as props (who had height and weight requirements to be there) also conforms to authoritarian control of imagery. Distrust of truth by repetition of falsehood, and demonizing those that disagree lays a foundation for building the brain chemistry of hate, focusing disappointments and resentment on outsider groups in rallies that celebrate insider status. To not do what the authoritarian wants is one form of resistance. Having that name removed from a place it never belonged resists the insistent force of the authority. Some of the banners have come down. That satire is effective is obvious when media sites are attacked because of comedians pointing out injustice and absurdities. Political cartoons cut down the powerful and refuse obeisance. Art, music, and comedy all display the persistence of human spirit and and grow under pressure. The is our counter-control imagery.

Disruption

World in a Face

Reflecting on Paul Ekman’s study of facial expressions, it occurred to me that there is an enormous amount of information we receive throughout the day that goes largely unrecognized. Since we recognize thousands of expressions its likely we notice a wide variety during an interaction with someone that accumulate into a sense of our overall impression of what their mood was that day. Then I wondered about the range of expressions a parent makes in reaction to their child. So much focus on behaviors is leaving out the background of smiles shifting to concern or irritation hidden by smiles. Ekman’s book details how we assemble a sense of the feeling with the unconscious perception of micro-expressions. After reading about this, I recorded a debate then watched it in slow motion and was astonished at what showed between the controlled expressions. To what degree are our insecurities seeded by the flow of reactions we see on a parent’s face? Facial expressions led me to some of my current passions. It was Bjorn Borg’s facial expression filling the screen that first sucked me into watching tennis, his look of intense almost predatory focus. What it took to be there showed in his face. To be so close to that moment with him felt nearer to holy than any other word that comes to mind. I’m always inspired by tennis. Resonating with that level of dedication strengthens my own. The danger comes when we try to label facial expression. Our own confidence or insecurities often misinterpret the look on someone’s face. When I first started teaching, I was very insecure and interpreted students’ expressions in a variety of negative ways. Then one lunch hour I walked through the student lounge area and saw a student whose look I’d interpreted badly, wearing the same look in a group of her friends. The look was not personal. She did look sad. I understood the feeling but not the meaning. Looking at art can help us fine tune our perceptions with universal feelings, the heart of being human. Art drawn from the depths of an artist sensitizes the viewer to their own depths, providing a safe space to reflect on what’s often hidden. A non-clinical way to unlock personal psychology, we gravitate toward what calls to us in that moment. Resonance with facial expressions is stimulating each viewer’s understanding of that feeling, no words involved. The last few times I’ve been in the Baltimore Museum of Art the African masks stirred something deep in me that had been available but neglected. In the room of eighteenth-century portraits, I gravitated toward the ones that showed a sensitive soul trapped in layers of privilege. The communication in a facial expression can cut through the superficial and show a meaning that isn’t said.

Overwhelm

Beauty Heals

After a bad couple of weeks, it can be hard to get out of the turbulence of worry and obligation that continue to afflict the mind when it seems like the troubles will just keep coming. So when my brother suggested a trip to Longwood Gardens, even though most of me wanted to hide at home to avoid any more possible mishaps, I agreed, knowing it would be good for me. And it was. So many tulips in differently shaped and organized beds, kinds I’d never seen before and some so strange you wondered what was evolution thinking. Every part of the garden was perfectly kept, the arrangements of different flowers and plants flowing in harmony. Never throughout the day did I think about my troubles. Time in nature is known to be healing, and the careful cultivation of these gardens was inspiring. Beauty takes a person out of themselves, diminishing self-consciousness and cleansing the mind for a time. Tulips have always been special to me because of my memories of my grandfather being with the family when we would go to Sherwood Gardens in tulip season after church. That was when he was minister at St John’s Methodist Church nearby and he was the magnetic north of my heart, how I wanted to be. He had what I know now know is equanimity and a sense of humor, beautiful in temperament and behavior, a demonstration of the connection between beauty and goodness. So often discussion of beauty is confined to physical appearance, an arrangement of features, what Ram Dass would call the package, not the essence. Krishnamurti said a lovely face without love is ugly. I’ve seen people with perfect symmetrical features twist them out of shape with a snide expression and people animated by joy to glow. Perhaps it is the lack of love in the hearts of so many that allows people to thoughtlessly destroy beauty, of the earth, of relations between neighbors, of justice. Justice depends on correct proportions which is also true of beauty. Beauty my underlie our moral judgments, determining the unjust, unfair and destructive, ugly. Vanity blinds individuals to their ugly actions and choices. Beauty stimulates the beauty within because that is what recognizes it. Art builds sensitivity to beauty. We connect to the feelings expressed in an image and grow in our responsiveness. AI can make amazing images but can’t replicate human feeling. Only artists can keep the depths alive to educate our feeling nature, sense of appreciation and awareness of the feelings of others to move in harmony with our world.

Misguided Energies