Lost Innocence
by Matt Rowe
Description
LOST INNOCENCE
“Lost Innocence” is a piece whose main themes are the communicative impossibility in contemporary society and the contrast between innocence and corruption.
In particular, the portrayed character symbolizes the results which our society produces by repressing people’s individuality.
The subject, indeed, praises a distorted, almost disturbing kind of beauty, a consequence of her desperate search of compliance with today’s aesthetic standards.
The story of the “Lost Innocence” is the same of many modern young adults who have traded their individuality and their spirit for a superficial, corrupted beauty, in order to obtain social approval.
The subject is metaphorically trapped in herself, clearly incapable of expressing her true nature.
Moreover, the shape of the hair, which resembles tentacles, symbolizes the process of dehumanization and corruption which society leads on people’s individuality. A B&W-only palette was chosen to underline the sterile atmosphere of the scene and the human detachment from nature, which is mainly represented by the white, abstract background of the work.