Short Writing 2

The picture shows a young boy cleaning himself for his morning bath. Each element of the picture defines this person and explains who he is. This boy is the main focus of the picture because of his arrangement or placement in the center of the picture. The background’s lack of focus or soft focus allows every glance on the picture to move toward the boy in the center.
The picture captures a boy’s morning bath, but it does not seem to make him very clean. He bathes in dirty water outside and his unkempt hair amplifies this idea. This is different from the “normal” body discussed in class. Cleanliness, the norm, expresses confidence and a healthy lifestyle. This body expresses the opposite, presenting shy or weak characteristics. This boy is very thin, which could represent an unhealthy, dirty body.

This body expresses shy, unconfident attributes by not looking at the camera. His face is pointed toward the ground, not at anything in particular. When figures look at the audience, there is a connection with them, and that subject exudes confidence. However, this young boy does not protrude confidence because of his lack of attention to the audience. Facial expressions help understand how people are feeling and answer many questions about who they are. This boy is covering up many answers to questions with his hands over his face. This again could represent a shy demeanor. Straight body posture also represents confidence. Again, he represents the opposite idea by his completely bent over posture.

Looking at the background, the boy is the main focus. The setting around him has a softer/ blurry focus. This could mean many different things. This technique helps focus the viewers’ attention on the subject. The blurry background could represent time moving on. The progression into a modern era arrived, and the times are moving faster than this boy is ready for. Normally in the morning, people are very sluggish when getting ready for the day. This moment represents the idea that the boy is slowly moving ahead, while the world around him develops much faster. If this picture represents the same time period as discussed in class, it is a perfect example of the transition from a separate world of Native Americans to a combined world with Europeans.

The boy also lacks ornamentation, along with his absence of clothing. This Native American is barely wearing anything, which represents a less modest body. He obviously is not embarrassed, and finds it normal to not wear anything except a tiny piece of fabric.

Overall, this body represents the same ideas presented through documents by the Travel Writers. There are a few differences, but many features captured in this picture are basically the same. Every aspect of the picture, from the background to clothing, defines this Native American Body.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12295975@N05/2230298031/