This shoot was born in a moment of need.
Need for expression. Need for acceptance.
Need to recognize and admit to myself that there were parts of me hidden away, pushed into the darkness, ignored—almost forgotten.
This is Shadow.
And I decided to let him out and let him in, to hear what he had to say and see what he had to show me.
I learned what only by getting to know him I could learn...
Despite his menacing appearance and eldritch voice,
his heart is young and his needs are simple:
He only wants to be seen.
He wants to be looked at.
He wants to be acknowledged and listened to.
Not everything he says will always make sense to us,
and not everything he asks for should be granted...
But if we listen to him and get to know him, maybe he will start feeling understood, and maybe he will stop being so scary. Maybe he will start speaking with a sweeter voice, words that we can actually hear and understand. Maybe he will even allow us to mend his wounds and kiss his scars.
And maybe, if we gently shine a light on his twisted face and his crooked body, we will see that the sinister silhouette we thought we saw in the darkness was,
in the end, just the shadow of a kid.
A kid covered in clothes too big for him,
holding tools he didn’t know how to use,
— all dirty, messy, and scared, for a life no one ever taught him how to live.
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Photography by -
@carlademarte - Go check her page to see more of her beautiful work!
Make up by
@sunnysmakeupaddiction 
