Summer of 2017 at Moderna Museet in Malmö, Sweden. I encounter the painting Play of Thoughts (1970) by Annika Wide as part of the Malmö’s Burning exhibit. It’s like Alice in Wonderland but instead of down the rabbit hole, we’re sliding into a glistening eye that’s imbedded in a mouth.
My internal dialogue was something like this. Can we see with our mouths? Should we be cautious of what we’re feeding our sight? I’m lost. I can’t look at this anymore. Honestly.
That same summer Katy Perry released her Witness album. The cover art features a pair of hands shielding Katy’s eyes and one arctic blue iris surrounded by shiny red lips. I couldn’t shake the similarity to Wide’s painting.
Are the eyes exiting or receding into the mouths? I still can’t tell. These blank, cycloptic stares are unsettling. Wide’s image is more inviting, if that’s possible. The more I look at it, I start to think the mouth is stretching, giving us more room to peer in. The second, the album cover, feels more like a statue or statement. What are we willing to witness? How much are we shielding ourselves? I’m not sure but I know I’ve toggled between these images too long. I have to look away now.
The Jam 