The Art of Capturing Souls

The human face, usually that of one’s mother, is the first visual connection a new human being has with the world.  That face is the world.  Psychologists tell us that the greater percentage of what we communicate with each other in any conversation is transmitted and received through our reading of each other’s facial expressions during our chat – and more often than not, we trust the truth to be what we read in another’s face, this truth being as often as not contrary to the words being spoken.

Crazy Horse had no fear of leading his warriors against Custer’s guns at the Little Big Horn, but he wouldn’t let his picture be taken on his deathbed, lest his soul be captured in the photograph.  For Crazy Horse it may indeed have been more than the mere chronicling of the death of a particular moment in time that was captured.  Maybe it’s because of our unique evolutionary trajectory (which elevated our sense of sight over our sense of smell as our primary information intake) that made us maniacally visual beings rather than creatures whose worlds are demarcated by sound and scent.