Girl in Red Hat
circa 1665
This girl assumes
a role within a role. Like a puppet she is placed in a space and made to play a
character according to the rules. Through her composure she must express the étiquette
of her day, and in her masquerade of props she must camouflage her personality.
But is this a convincing performance?
Her true self -
hidden beneath the veneer of her slightly haunting anonymity and her theatrical
clothing - is but a curious introverted youth whose eyes, strong and steady,
hold one's attention with a refreshingly honest stare. Even if her adolescent
frame is muted by the magnificence of her costume she still exudes the
qualities of a child, and it is with these that she masters control of her
unfamiliar grounds. Her open moist mouth and her flush cheeks resonate an
innocence that contradicts the posh hat and the fancy earrings, and her posture
- however controlled - suggests an awkward uneasiness. The lighting accentuates
her porcelain skin and destroys her superficial mask of sophistication, and it
is now we see that she naïvely plays the role of an imposter. We catch
this girl in the moment her mask falls, and perhaps we recognise her act of
"dressing up" as evading or hiding the truth. So is she really as
anonymous as she appears? Does she, in fact, represent the strange stage
between childhood and adulthood (a stage that adults no longer understand)? Or is she simply a face without a name?
