The Burden of Beauty (2001)

By Christopher Orapello

…the pain of popularity,
…the agony of acceptance,
…the compromise of conformity,
…the sacrifice of the self,
…the duel of duality.

While we grow, we tend to become one with the world and our society. We are influenced to become a good person, as well as a proper product for society. What some of us tend to do is ignore who we are and allow ourselves to be told who to be. Conformity is a major factor of life and culture in general. The need to fit in with a group and to not be alone plagues the lonely and feeds on the accepted. Society indirectly influences an individual by teaching them to ignore and deny who they are, what their purpose in life could be, what their interests are, and in turn, are lead to fulfil the needs and expectations of the world around them. They are taught to be one of the crowd, to not stand out or follow their heart, to fear the unusual, ignore the strange, to be “normal,” to lack imagination, to not push any boundaries that exist in life, as well as the other numerous social and cultural practices that are infringed upon us by our society and culture.

Beauty, being a quality that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind , plays a large part in our society. It seems to control and effect everything in our lives. If something is not beautiful then it is ugly, meaning unattractive or unpleasant , and if it is ugly then it may not be wanted or desired. In most cases, no one wants to be unattractive or seen as unpleasant, striving to be considered beautiful or accepted is the alternative. Which is why some individuals feel the need to diet excessively, have cosmetic surgery done, or worry about their clothing. Some people do not need to strive to achieve a desired level of beauty due to their natural looks, body type, or their financial situation. Others may strive for beauty all their lives by not being so fortunate in life. Our culture emphasizes beauty above all, and those who feel the need to strive for beauty may become obsessed with it and often desperate enough to allow their obsession to consume them, and possibly destroy them. The concept of beauty, being the standard of acceptance, becomes a burden by the fact that it is so highly emphasized by most of our culture. Unfortunately, achieving greatness in our society is often based on one’s appearance. Our appearance is often used to obtain a greater understanding of who we are as a person, despite the unreliability of such a technique. A beautiful or pleasing appearance will dictate a competent and trustworthy persona to an onlooking individual, while a more slovenly or less than pleasing appearance will dictate unreliability, uneasiness, or a lack of surety about who we are as a person. With such an emphasis placed on appearance in order to present oneself in a particular way, certain people often feel the need to portray themselves in a particular fashion so they may communicate a specific message to the world around them. The logic behind this technique, an often-subconscious action, controls us into thinking that we are only what we appear to be. So in turn, we may become slaves to our appearance and the reaction in which it provokes. Not only do some of us become slaves, but some of us also become complete and total servants to our appearances, so much that our beauty becomes a burden. We become dominated by our looks and how we are perceived by society. We develop a personal duel between our inner and outer self. A denial of who we are and what we appear to be, and a fight between what we are and who we want to be.

That desire for acceptance is driven by the ego, which is the part of the self, the “I” that tries to see itself as being better or separate from the rest of society. It is by being controlled by the ego that we loose who we are internally and begin to only exist upon the outside of ourselves in the material world. WHO WE ARE then becomes a matter of WHAT WE ARE, and how we are perceived by the world around becomes the only thing which matters. Once we live more through our ego it is when we can be harmed psychologically and our outer self, being that outside persona, which we have developed and grown so dependent on, can be taken away and damaged by the world in which it depends on for existence. The lack of success in the fight for social acceptance and approval can rip such a person apart emotionally and physically. Such forms of destruction, which can be caused by an obsession with beauty and the ego, are depression, low self-esteem, substance abuse, eating disorders, suicide, as well as other forms of self destructive behavior. It is that pain, dominance, and loss of control that I have tried to capture in my work. It is a symbolic representational analogy for the problems we face and endure from our interaction with other individuals and society as a whole. I approach jewelry as being wearable sculpture and not necessarily as a piece of body decoration or ornamentation. I have worked with the space around the head and shoulders in my necklaces and I have worked with the natural form of the hand in my hand and arm jewelry. I have chosen to work primarily with necklaces and hand items for specific reasons. Bearing a burden is often compared to carrying something upon one’s shoulders. I have designed necklaces that are a burden to wear. The steel necklaces with their painful spikes, constricting mechanisms, and sheer weight forces the spikes to dig into the wearer, symbolizes the sacrifice of the self for beauty and the enduring pain for the reward of pleasure, which may come along with social acceptance. They also represent the domination of the ego and its ability to control one’s thoughts and actions. The symbolism of hand items relates to hand-held weaponry, which is used in duels and often used for vengeance, forms of attack, suicide, and other acts of violence. Such acts of violence, like killing, fighting, etc. are associated with the mental and emotional stress that may result from negative social interaction. In all their forms the jewelry does not conform to the wearer, the wearer must conform to the jewelry, reflecting how the wearer is dominated by the burden, which they bear for the sake of beauty. I feel that the magenta colored lighting helps to illustrate and emphasize the dual nature of the reality that I am presenting. The magenta shining down upon the harsh black displays that bear painful wearable art helps to demonstrate the concept of beauty with the concept of pain. Also, it helps to make the room very inviting and tempting to enter but to the seeker’s surprise, the work then shows the inquisitive individual what pain and torture may lurk within the depths of such beauty. Ironically enough the beauty of the colored lighting hurts the eyes of the viewer much like how my necklaces hurt the person who wears them. Both forms of pain are nagging and uncomfortable.

The work also possesses a duality by either empowering the wearer or dominating them. They possess the ability to make the wearer helpless, immobile, in pain, or they provide the individual with a wearable weapon of torture and destruction. If one accepts who they are and what they look like, they would in turn realize their individuality and change imperfection into perfection. Uniqueness would become an ally and they would free themselves from their personal duel, their fight between their inner and outer selves. This freedom would make one unstoppable, as well as untouchable within society. If the burden were not accepted, it would continue to injure and torment the wearer until their own self-destruction sees that they drift away to nothing. The concept of beauty possesses the same qualities as my work. In the media it can be used as a weapon. For those that desire it for themselves, beauty can become an obsession and that obsession can become a device of torture. Those that are beautiful become a victim of their own gifts whose appearance may be taken advantage of and used by others.

My work is a reflection of the pain that we bear, the torment that we endure, the struggles we conquer, as well as those that would try to consume us. What does your necklace look like? Where are your scars? Take off your device of torture and allow your wounds to heal…