Stories of a Child

A Puzzle of Memory

Martin Parr 1999

When I first saw this picture, I thought that the subject was a man. The face shape and the small amount of hair above the top lip seemed to hint that this was true, although they could easily be a woman, now I have an idea that this photograph could potentially be seen as a commentary on gender roles and discrimination. The "boy" in the photograph is wearing lipstick, which is generally something frowned upon by society because it is seen as a more feminine thing to wear. As such, any male who wants to wear it, is shunned or treated differently. In the photograph though, the subject is smiling, which leads me to believe that he is genuinely happy, so perhaps he found people that accept him for who he is, and don’t treat him weirdly because his fashion decisions. The colors also seem to have significance. They seem almost chaotic in a way and a little bit unsettling, which could represent the inner turmoil that the subject could be feeling. Someone who is transgender would likely be feeling this way, so this photograph could be about someone who is transitioning and has only just found his/her place in the world. I could not find the image online to confirm whether or not the subject is a female, so I could be right with this interpretation. The fact that some lipstick got smeared on their teeth could be implying that the person in this photograph does not know how to apply makeup which could be explained by the idea that perhaps no one ever taught this person how to properly put makeup on, possibly hinting towards the idea that the subject is possibly not a female considering that a woman's mother would most likely teach her how to apply makeup. The explanation for this as well could be that the subject is a woman who accidentally smeared some makeup on her teeth, but for the sake of this assignment, I'll stick with the theme. This photo to me, represents a man's struggle as he tries to find his place in the world and people that accept him for who he is.

Part 5: The Thing Itself

This picture is a good representation of the thing itself because instead of being distracted by anything around the subject, you can only see the candles, and therefore it is clear what the picture is about.

Part 4: Time

These 2 photographs represent time because you can see the difference in the lighting and shadows, so you can easily tell that there is a time difference between them. One was taken early in the morning and has very soft lighting, and one was taken later at night and has a darker feeling to it.