Mirror

Artist: Yingshan Nicole Wei

Digital Photograph

October 10, 2023

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

• The Art

  A young man is getting ready for an event: a wedding? Graduation? His fine white dress shirt matches the warm cream tones of his dressing room decorated with a large mirror in a golden frame and a vase of white baby breath.

  Bright blue hydrangeas contrast the shadowy pale room, mimicking the his emotion: rather than excited for a formal event, he takes a moment alone in his dressing room to recoup or prepare himself for what is about to happen. He seems uncertain about his appearance, or unhappy with the entire event.

  Light beaming in from a window nearby blinds him, and eventually bathes his face in shadows. The man hides his face from the sunshine and the camera invading this intimate space, and he only takes a glimpse of his final look in the mirror.

• The Artist

  Nicole Wei is a senior, part of the class of 2024. She is a Studio Art major who has worked for the Heights student newspaper, Laughing Medusa literary magazine, and the Arts Council.

• The Story

  “Flowers are a big part of my artwork. For this piece, I used blue hydrangeas as a contrast to the model's white shirt. I wanted to express a sense of nostalgia and self with the colors and lightings, as well as the sequence. It is a gradual revealing of the model's face, but never in the reality: in the mirror.

  The lighting was really nice at the time so we spontaneously took some photos and it worked out!”

Article by: Sindey Amar