An Introduction and Part I of The Iron Chariot
I contemplated my first Mad Art Lab post for a while before putting it up. This is going to be the first in a series of posts centered around photography and the Secular Movement. Specifically, they are going to be posts about photos that I feel represent my experiences in the Movement and the stories that have come out of those experiences. This theme is gigantic. I don’t know how I am going to be able to channel all of my stories in to the photos that I’ve taken over the years. That being said, I am going to try anyway. I made a little introductory video to talk a bit about the project and about how I got here (my first photo is beyond the video.):
The Iron Chariot Part I: A Coming Out Photo
I have decided that the the only first photo I could possibly choose is the photo I took the night I came out as an atheist to my parents. My mom cried. My dad tried to argue with me. That’s all I really remember about the actual conversation. Afterwords, I felt ashamed. I didn’t think that I had done anything wrong, but I felt as though I had. After sitting in my room for an hour, I decided that I couldn’t allow myself to feel ashamed anymore. I took a red sharpie out of desk, drew the scarlet “A” on my chest, painted my lips the same shade of red. I took a photo on my webcam and posted it on Tumblr. Even now, this grainy and over-proessed picture reminds me of the moment I chose to become a secularist activist. It was my proclamation. It is the beginning of my Movement story.
I look forward to your posts! Welcome to Mad Art Lab!
Welcome to The Lab, Monica! And thank you for sharing your story with us and all of our readers.
Love the picture and the story behind it. Welcome 🙂