20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Artistic
Fly

“I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever you see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful. The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over. Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. -Sylvia Plath A disturbed mind can be self-immolating. Becoming the shadow of the thoughts in your own brain may be beautiful, but pernicious for the troubled. One may be in a free world with vast privilege and great power, yet trapped with toxic convictions. A Mirror reflects the truth. It gives a minutely faithful representation of its reflection. It shows the barrier between conscious and subconscious. Therefore, by looking deep into a mirror, we consciously look deep inside ourselves, subconsciously following a thought process. Water embodies metamorphosis. It is birth and rebirth as where there is no water, there is no life. In water, those with great weight on their shoulders and heavy minds sink and the buoyant afloat. Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Mirror”, portrays a woman searching for who she is within her own reflection in the water. My photographs are similar as they capture the transformation of lives. Deep within the cage of thoughts, they are trapped although they appear unfettered. As they float in water where freedom is limitless they hold the mirror to reflect the light of the world. In it, they study their reflection, searching for a path from their scathing thoughts. Searching for what they really are. Reaching for their truth. McBeal, Neve. “The Mystical Symbolism of Mirrors in Women's Literature.” Medium, TNV Magazine, 11 June 2019. “The Symbolism of Mirrors in Literature.” Mirrorworld Blog, https://www.mirrorworld.co.uk/news/index.php/symbolism-mirrors-literature/.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 01.2022
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Walnut Creek, California, United States of America
Copyright: © Dariush nehdaran