Painting on a Facade
Leia Jekel as photographed by Minna Abalian in Painting on a Facade
"In this modern era, social constructs of beauty and the facade that we have been told to put up has been long held for years and only now are we making a pulling at the bricks to bring down the wall of constraint. This photo was inspired by that idea of masking your true self and how vulnerability is often portrayed in a negative sense in the media when in reality, embracing it will lead you to a deeper understanding of others and yourself. Here the subject (Leia Jekel) is almost literally painting on that facade - it can be paralleled to the film Pleasantville in which it is shot in black and white until people begin to show their individuality and uniqueness by turning into color, but people were afraid of this and tried to cover up their changing appearance. The image reflects that in how society has formed us to believe that we must cover up that side of ourselves and hide the imperfections from others. But we are not perfect. We are human. And that is beautiful." — Minna Abalian