Hijacking the way we interpret facial expressions to force sympathetic understanding in three parts.

Part 1: The Hook. Getting peoples’ commitment to resolve something that is tiresome or discomforting, requires incentive to connect and care. I utilize two things to accomplish this: points of familiarity and expressions of emotion. The familiar points that invite and ground the viewer are a set of simplified and symbolic facial features: eyes, nose, lips, eyebrows, wrinkles. These points also happen to be translators of emotion. Certain combinations of emotional expressions are capable of bringing people’s attention to a figure’s mindset regardless of context or narrative. Simultaneous expressions of joy and dismay produce degrees of pity. Any form of sympathy is crucial towards creating a mindset to understand and resolve.

Part 2: The Jumble. The jumble is about creating tension and conflict through a mishmash of expressions amplified by composition. Because facial proportions are fairly standardized, disrupting those standards creates tension. Moving features farther apart or closer together creates the feeling of a figure pulling itself apart or collapsing on itself. Exertion is necessary to analyze the dynamic state of the being.

Part 3: The Reconciliation. People struggle in the face of  cognitive dissonance. They will naturally seek resolution with the conflict around them. But for these figures, there is no guiding narrative to steer a person toward “right” and away from “wrong.” Instead the viewer must be able to embrace the discomfort and wrap it all into one lump they can live with.