Sitting in the dark, a man who looks to be in his mid thirties has his head pressed into the palms of his hands. His fingers wrap over his forehead and into his hair. His fingertips massage his scalp by pulling the skin of his forehead down then releasing, pulling down, then releasing. The pressure from his palms push his eyeballs back into their sockets, distorting their shape slightly behind his closed eyelids.
In this position he tries to imagine the perfect subject, something that can be loved to death. He imagines the subject to be ecstatic, like a child, made of innocence and crime.
An image emerges as a figure stumbles in from the darkness. The man watches it curiously. The figure seems to be moving irrationally, its behaviour is unreasonable and illogical. It also seems to be unable to see… because it doesn’t have a head.
The figure withdraws, it touches itself like an animal in a zoo, unaware or perhaps indifferent to the man’s curiosity.
To Attempt to Become Other, Secretly or Not
James Newitt
7-23/4/17