I actually don’t remember how I came across this band but has become a favorite one very quickly. They are called Son Lux and let me warn you now, they are not for everyone. Their lyrics and their sounds are full of layered meaning and I like that. The pictures in this post are inspired by one of their songs, Dream State. The lyrics are below.
Days we were young
We took photographs of everything we could see
We knew we were
Impervious no matter how we’d bleed
We never fought for breath
Invincible skin
It’s how we all begin
•
Awake, awake
This is a dream state
Though we were wide awake
This is a dream state
Though we were wide awake
This is a dream state
•
Will we survive in this, our new wilderness?
We have nothing on our feet
Invisible skin
Where is the world within?
Invincible skin
It’s how we all begin
•
Awake, awake
This is a dream state
This is a dream state
Though we are wide awake
•
Out of the dark day, into the brighter night
Out of the dark day, into the brighter night
Out of the dark day, into the brighter night
Out of the dark day, into the brighter night
Out of the dark day, into the brighter night
•
Days we were young
We took photographs of everything we could be
[From Dream State by Son Lux @son_lux ]
I took these shots on location, that is, in what it used to be the pit of our outhouse (don’t worry all the human excrement have been long gone). I thought it was such an appropriate place to reflect that indeed we are not impervious. I resonated so much with the song because when I was in my late teens and twenties I really thought that could live unaffected by the circumstances and the people surrounding me. I could rise above, I could be impervious, and I could do anything I set myself to do.
You can probably guess what comes next. I was wrong. That was a dream state. We are affected by everything going around us. I’m writing this on June 1st. COVID-19 has touched everyone of us in one way or another. George Floyd’s dead should have had an effect in all of us by now too. What do we do? Sometimes it feels that being crushed under the weigh of everything is the only possible outcome.
But, is it? You will have to answer that for yourself. As for me, I try to live my days in a way in which I let the world touch me, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And at the same time I try to set boundaries. I try to take the world in, and turn it into something that helps me move forward, upwards, instead of downwards.
What about you? How do you process the world around you? Do you feel impervious? Do you feel crushed? Have you found a middle ground?
Find this and other art at @the.untamed.portraits