Bright Colours and Skeleton Legs
My photo was in an Exhibit!
Of the many people there, there was one clear group that stood out, a man with a silvering goatee, a woman in a dress that seemed way too summery for the current weather, and a girl, probably around my age, who I can only assume was their daughter. They stood in front of the metallic wall where 100 pictures, including mine, were hung, and through the context of the conversation, I concluded that the girl and her parents were there to see a childhood friend’s picture of a dog that had recently passed away. They were loud, in that way that people sometimes are when they’re around those who know them intimately, and therefore forget that there are other people sharing their space.
Although they were trying not to show it, I could tell that my friends, who had come to the exhibit for me, were a little overwhelmed by the noise.
“I'm sure it is a nice picture” one of my friends said.
“I mean yeah, but they can calm down a little” the other one answered.
I laughed, mostly because we couldn’t really see the picture from where we’re standing, but the blurry and warped image from the corner of our eyes had been perfectly supplemented by the vivid and bright descriptions from the somewhat annoying family, giving us a general idea of what the frame held.
“I wonder what breed the dog is” I whispered.
Amidst the clinking champagne flutes, fizzing beers, and heavy stomping feet, I heard them both say “was.” I failed at trying not to laugh.
“I bet you a glass of wine, that it will be a chiwawa” Jess told me with a smirk.
I was about to quip back something about how the wine was free but bit my tongue as we heard the family talk about how “protective, majestic and intimidating,” “Robert” was.
Our laugh effervesced.
“So about that glass of wine you now owe me…” I raised my eyebrows at Jess.
“Some chiwawas are intimidating” she tried defending.
“Yeah, and majestic!” she rolled her eyes at me.
“I don't think the girl that took the photo is even here” I remarked.
“Good, she would have made the food shortage worse”
We were being dramatic, but it was eight pm and the gallery had promised bubbles and bites, but upon showing up, the bubbles seemed to be flowing freely, while the bites were limited to a small table with hummus for maybe 1.5 people, a handful of almonds, and a couple of dried apricots.
On second thought, maybe that explained the family’s behavior.
All of a sudden, one of them shrieked, “Oh, I loooove this one!!! How creative!! And what is that title??”
I rolled my eyes, trying to make the people in front of us move quicker through the hallway-like exhibit, so that we could see the rest of the photos, and go get something to eat.
“I think it's Spanish?” the daughter said.
“I wonder how they got the skeleton legs” the father answered.
I turned back to my friends,
“Did you hear that? After the chiwawa we get skeleton legs!!”
“Riveting.” the sarcasm was the perfectly sweet.
The line dragged a little longer, and our wine glasses were empty, when from the corner of my eye, I spotted Nathan, whose photo I’d seen at the very start of the exhibit.
I waited for him to catch my eye and then mouthed, “I loved your work.”
“Yours too” he mouthed back.
“Really?!? I haven’t seen it! I don’t know what photo they picked yet!” I yelled this, hoping the sound waves would travel over the public’s heads and into Nathans ears.
He frowned at me, and soon enough was weaseling his way though the people and pulling us ahead of a group of students who were pointing aimlessly at different works, their arms flailing around. We tried our best to not get hit by their violent champagne flutes, and landed effectively in front of the loud family.
“Yes, the skeleton legs are great, but the special colors on the bodies…” The mom was speaking now, and I was thrilled to see what they were going on about, but when I looked up I didn’t see any skeletons.
I looked to my side and saw my friends red from trying to contain their laughter. When they sensed my confusion, one of them pointed at the arm of the father in the family, and as I followed where his arm was pointing with my gaze, a smile broke out on my face as I saw the skeletons, colorful bodies, and the title, yes in Spanish, that I had written for my photo the month before.
Ok, so I don’t actually think that the legs look very skeletal1, but after hearing it at the show, my grandma said the same thing, so I don’t know. I took the photo in January of this year, when I was at home in Ecuador.2 We went on a sunset walk one day, and I loved the reflection of the people3 on in the water.
Around this time I had also been quite obsessed with reflection and trying to make it as non cliché as possible, but rather using it as a creative tool. Out of that experiment, this is the best result.
Oh, and we never saw the dog picture.
-S
Maybe I’ll rename the photo skeleton legs.
Nathan, whose photo was also exhibited, asked me where I took the photo, and I just said “oh at home.” He stared at me bewildered, not really sure how to respond. “In Amsterdam?” he asked. “No,” I said, “At home, home” he stared at me again “Ahhh Spain.” I laughed. “No, at home home home, in Ecuador”
My mom, uncle, aunt, and dad in that order.
WOOOO NEW NAME