Being Our Authentic Selves

We all wear masks at some time in our lives! Being an artist naturally makes me a very visual person. I relate better to images than words for most things in my life, like for learning, but then maybe that’s the norm, I don’t know.

Anyway…when I am working on some pieces of art, I feel that it is telling a story. I feel the story, the words, come together in my head, quite spontaneously as I am working on bringing the image to life. There are a few images that I have created though that inspired poetry, so I thought I would share how one of these poems came together.

I created an image of a Venetian mask a few years ago (shown above), which made me think about being ‘your true self’. The history of mask wearing in Italy, prior to the Venetian Carnival, was to disguise your identity while participating in promiscuous or decadent events.

The mandatory wearing of masks for Covid-19 aside, a lot of us wear invisible masks everyday, quite unknowingly, not wanting to expose our true selves to the world. There are many reasons we are reluctant to reveal our authentic selves, perhaps we prefer not to speak up about something in order to keep the peace. Or on a deeper level we could be hiding who we are because we are trying to fit in with society in some way.

It was these thoughts that bought the following short poem to mind. I wrote this quite a few years ago and it is truly based on who I am.

BE YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF
Who am I
I ask myself
As I am not so sure these days
Who am I
I ask myself
As I think in different ways
Who am I
I ask myself
As I brush my crazy hair
Who am I
I ask myself
As I choose what clothes to wear
Who am I
I ask myself
As I speak with words I understand
Who am I
I ask myself
As I lend a helping hand
Who am I
I ask myself
As I wonder what others see
Who am I
I remember now
I am who I’m meant to be.