On Beauty: Ana Warner

To me, beauty shows the human condition, what’s going on in the world today, the changes people are happy about, and the injustices with which they are not. The image I chose was taken on April 22, 1970. There was an earth-day protest on which, the question was asked by the Mayor if New York City, John V. Lindsay, “Do we want to live or die?” during this time, it was a fight to end pollution, a fight that still goes on today.

The photographer who took the image still remains unknown as the credit line only reads “Associated Press”. Though the name of the freelance photographer is a mystery, there is no mystery behind the image which reflects the aggravation and frustration of the people fighting for reform. This image is beautiful. It seems to grab you by the shoulders and force you to ask yourself, “Is this really what our future could be like? Reduced to gas masks just to go outdoors?”

This photo captures one just one emotion, but many. The image itself isn’t full of hatred, but still manages to capture the passion of that day. It combines the present with what might become of the future. Similar art work, surprisingly enough, lies within some television shows, as well as political cartoons. A one panel comic I found showed 3 children waiting to see the principal. The first 2 were there because they had cursed in class, and the last was there because he had said “Christmas”. It’s a sign of the times where there is a push on everyone to be politically correct.

Another set of images which reflects the human condition are the ones that take the iconic “Evolution of Man” and add more to show what some people think life is going towards. One of these images, shows man evolving into a pig, another may show him evolving into an overweight man with a beer can in hand, and finally another may show man sitting at a computer desk with a caption that reads “Somewhere, something went terribly wrong.”

All these images have the same thing in common. They reflect the world either as it is or as it may become. The beauty lies within the ideas of what we as humans are becoming. Everyone may have different ideas, but be they favorable or undesirable, the art form is the world reflecting on itself; man’s inference on what their lives may become, what heights we can reach, what lows we may sink to. That is beauty.