In composing this photo essay, my main goal was to show societal conceptions of those who are shy and introverted in opposition to their personal experience of themselves, while taking the etymology of the word into account. “Shy” originally relates to the frightened nature of horses, which appear in the beginning collage, but then transitioned over time to meaning “lacking”, along with the connotation of avoidance. At the end of composing the essay, I discovered that I hadn’t included much written text in the collages to explain the thought process behind them and guide the viewer, but then chose to leave such out on purpose. Excluding any text bubbles in the presentation is analogous to the silence society experiences from introverts. Also, leaving out my own words is meant to incite those viewing the essay to come to their own conclusions about the images and their intended meaning in order to mirror the internal thought processes of introverts. My own life informed much of the project, as it contrasts the contempt of society in the outside world which encourages quieter people to emote and be “more”, and the rich inner world of introverts. I remember sitting with a group of friends when one of them (admittedly, he has less tact than the rest) asked “Hey Cass, why aren’t you talking?” While not hurtful, his question poses to me the very thing that often nags me when I am in a larger group of people: “Why aren’t you talking? Why aren’t you more interesting?” My project challenges the presupposition that just because one isn’t speaking, one doesn’t have deeper thoughts. Its intent is to get the audience thinking about a view of life different to, and as equally valid as their own.
