My Final Piece

Final Piece

(in progress)
(in progress)

Self Portrait. Ball Point Pen.
Background photograph from Google.

Our Mask - Performance Piece

We put on a mask to appear friendly as we are social beings and so indirectly value social interaction with other beings. People want to be perceived as being friendly, though once you start to lift the mask, you don't always give off the image you want to portray, and so sometimes it is best to keep the mask on.
Ishmail Reed, an American novelist, said it best: "masks are necessary for living in the world." William Pope L has written a book entitled "The Friendliest Black Artist In America" on masking ourselves, not just racially, but socially and I believe this is one of the ways we do it; by smiling.
The different colours of the masks represent the different ethnicities as the smile is indeed universal.

Melanie Stones
Music by: Edith Piaf

From Ear To Ear

By Mel Stones.

Music by Yann Tiersen.

Photography Work

You would expect for the chain effect to go in the other direction from the start, but I wanted to do something slightly different and have the people facing the other way to imply that their contageous smile has effected someone already, yet they can carry on and continue to 'infect' more, whilst getting on with their daily life.

The Best of Natural Smiles-






These photos were sent in to me by people, of 'natural and sincere smiles' they had captured.. :)

A Glimpse.

I went and asked around what really made people smile genuinely. Not laugh, or what they liked, but what really got them smiling to themselves. I also asked them what they thought of smiling to strangers and whether it was important.
I decided to put together photographs of what made each person smile, and I believe you get to see part of that someone's personality from each piece.
So, I made up a sort of 'photo collage' for myself and what makes me smile; my dogs, Coco and Lincoln, big fluffy clouds, people telling me I look just like my mother, gorgeous white ducks in green fields, cute little monkeys, all animals, in fact. Seeing people hand-feed squirrels, seeing animals being protected against those that ought not have pets, seeing abandoned animals rehomed.. Certain smells also make me smile. Smells from my childhood. My mother's Italian Opera music, my father's girly radio songs that make him feel good..
And yes, I do smile at strangers to make them feel good, which in turn makes me feel good.

(In the centre: my and my mother's face superimposed).

Asad:


Me: Asad, what in particular makes you smile?
Asad: Greenery- beautiful sites, because i like nature in general.. In a way it revives me... I love grass and trees and open fields.. and mountains... Gives me this fresh feeling that you can't get in cities.
Me: What else makes you smile?
Asad: Life in general. I smile alot...i like everything.. good friends.. Oh, and I love seeing old couples. And falling autumn leaves.
Me: OK, but what REALLY makes you smile? Where you realise you're smiling to yourself and look really silly?
Asad: Helping the poor and seeing others help the poor. Especially old women and orphans. Lending an old woman a hand- she looks up smiles and holds on gently.
Me: Do you think it is important to smile at strangers?
Asad: Of course. As much as I can. Positive energy is trasmitted- makes everyone happy. Everyone is made of energy. If you spread positively then that's what spreads.


Moe:


Me: Moe, what 'image' in particular makes you smile?
Moe: Hmmm.. Seeing my cat run up to the door as soon as I walk in. You know when they got that look on their face saying, "missed you, man. Now pamper me". (laughs)
Me: And is it important to smile at strangers? Do you?
Moe: Yes, it is very important to smile at strangers. You never know what goes around..!



Sheri:



Me: Sheri, what makes you really smile?
Sheri: I smile when I see babies, dogs, and positive energy people. When I see my mother is smiling.. People doing yard work, walking their dogs. While delivering in the country I will see clothes on a wire and smile, or kids playing freely in their yards in the country.. Cows laying down, horses observing, chickens minding their own business- clucking away.... That makes me smile.
Me: Do you smile at strangers?
Sheri: Always. (smiles)


Rozelyn:




Me: Roz, what makes you smile?
Roz: Bunnies make me smile, and soft things. Bubble baths.. When it says I have a missed text.. And Japanese Art. I love Japanese things..
Me: Is it important to smile to others? Strangers?
Roz: Of course it is! It's nice. It's what you're supposed to do- make the world a better place.


These images look 'cheesy', but the things that make us smile are cheesy. :)
mel xxx

In Search of a Smile. A Sincere Smile.

My results to 'Spot The Fake Smile'.
This experiment is designed to test whether you can spot the difference between a fake smile and a real one. I got 14/20. :) ...

Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine smiles, they are actually slightly different, because they are brought about by different muscles, which are controlled by different parts of the brain. In genuine smiles, as well as making the mouth muscles move, the muscles that raise the cheeks – the orbicularis oculi and the pars orbitalis – also contract, making the eyes crease up, and the eyebrows dip slightly. Lines around the eyes do sometimes appear in intense fake smiles, and the cheeks may bunch up, making it look as if the eyes are contracting and the smile is genuine. But there are a few key signs that distinguish these smiles from real ones. For example, when a smile is genuine, the eye cover fold - the fleshy part of the eye between the eyebrow and the eyelid - moves downwards and the end of the eyebrows dip slightly.
mel xxx

Artist Statement. :)

I enjoy smiling. I really do. I was always one of those children who said nothing but always smiled. I, myself now find that quite annoying as I'm not a fan of shy kids, but many people must disagree with me because I found that even though I said nothing everyone loved me. Everyone! Was it because I always appeared to be happy? I don’t know. Perhaps my smile was contagious and it made others smile. As a child that grew up moving from country to country each year because of my dad’s job requiring us to move around a lot, I learnt that smiling was understood by anyone and everyone. I guess everyone smiles in the same language.

I’m not sure when I first got into the habit of smiling all the time, let alone know when my first smile was. (I'm not entirely sure if you could even call it a habit, I may have just been a very happy and naive child. Thank you mum, thank you dad). I hear that researchers now believe that smiling is innate- that blind babies also smile. This makes me happy; it makes me smile.
Thinking back to my high school days I realize I did not do much smiling then. Not sincere smiling, anyway. Could anyone tell? I don’t know. However, I do remember in Year 9 we had a newcomer to our class. Her name was Noor. She seemed nice. Being that we did not know each other for the first few days, whenever she happened to look over in my direction and I in hers, I would smile from my desk then look away. We were soon friends. Years later she would tell me that she thought I was quite odd as all she recalls from our first days of meeting was my constant smiling. What I remember most vividly about my first impression of her was her chavvy hair-do and her obsession with Labello!! But I also found her interesting and intriguing. It’s been 9 years and we’re still best mates.

Several times in the last couple of years the subject of smiling has come up in my city’s newspaper- '7Days'. By my city I mean Abu Dhabi. The capital of the UAE? Where Dubai is? Yeah, now you know where I mean. (That’s why I usually just say ‘Dubai’ when asked where ‘home’ is). It’s where I’ve lived the longest. Anyway, back to the newspaper. There’s a section towards the back where people write in their opinions on the latest and most talked about news. Some ‘missing cat’ letters are squished in there, too. :( That’s where these smile discussions came up. Just last week there was a discussion that went on for several days about waving and being polite to strangers. It made me wonder why anyone cared that they weren’t being waved at or smiled at by airport staff, or by passing strangers in the mall, or by.. etc etc. Why would people care? This made me think and my thinking made me realise that though I couldn't understand it I also like when people smile at me, whether they be strangers or friends. Giving it more thought now, I realise that the reason for this is that a smile makes you feel secure, it makes you understand the environment you’re in better. On a more personal level, a smile is the first impression you may get of someone.

As a 22 year old, I may not have experienced as much as many, but I believe that smiling connects people and this makes people feel good. "A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act, and life's worthwhile". And so to you I smile.

~Melanie Stones