I went yesterday to change my address on the account, and decided to walk through. There's an expo right now on the definition of beauty as seen through a photographer's lens. It's a great little feature and I so much enjoyed the variety.
One photograph, however, one of the first I saw, struck me. It's by photographer Duane Michals See a small copy here:
If you can't read the text at the bottom, this is what it says: "This photograph is my proof. There was that afternoon when things were still good between us, and she embraced me, and we were so happy. It did happen. She did love me. Look, see for yourself!"
The photograph itself is well done. It's soft, sweet, whimsical. But the text underneath adds a bittersweet note to it. We all have these moments where we doubt someone actually loved us. In those moments, when we see the physical proof that they did, it brings back all the lovely and sad memories from those times.
But along with the bitter taste of loss, comes a little hope. If at some point I was loved, if she did love him at one time, then there's the possibility that he and I can be loved and can love again. All is not lost! See the proof here! I am not unlovable!
2 comments:
wow - this is so moving.
i love that you told me about this before I saw it and read it too, because it allowed me to hear and know your thoughts before forming my own -
it's so nostalgic and it seems like a complaint and judgment as well as a hope.
see - you did love (to the person who has left and taken their love away)
see - she did love me (to others who may doubt or question the validity/depth of your relationship)
see - she did love me (to myself. I was not crazy - there was a time where my love was requited and where it was more than this hollow hole)
i.e. there was a time when your love was real and when it meant something.
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