Self Portrait Grotesque

This self-portrait I did to represent the ugliness, corruption, and fall of government. In this photo I am sitting on a throne, representing the political power. Me being shirtless represents the vulnerability of someone in a high position of power. The grotesque mask that I am wearing in the picture represents how power eventually starts to corrupt people, and how ugly politics becomes when it is in the hands of the wrong people. The quote that goes along with this picture is one of my favorite quotes by the poet William Butler Yeats, in the poem Meru, “know that day bring round the night, that before dawn his glory and his monuments are gone.” The throne also represents how one form of government or one politician will eventually be left behind and the state will move on to a different one, how kings how sat on thrones now do not have political power in most places in the world. This relates to me because I have always been interested in politics, and I think that I might want to be involved in it as a I get older, but I want to be involved in a positive way to benefit others, as apposed to benefit myself.