Fractured

“I’m a typical
Hypocritical,
Egotistical-minded
Individual.
I’m a silent fuse,
I’m a tightening screw
And I might be everything
That is wrong for you.

Because I’m fractured:
Get your hands off me!
Because I’m fractured:
Get your hands off me!
Because I’m fractured:
Get your hands off me!
Get your hands off me!

I’m a cynical,
Analytical,
Apocalyptical-minded
Individual.
I’m a twisted wheel,
An Achilles’ heel
And I can’t communicate
Anything I feel.

Why?

Because I’m fractured:
Get your hands off me!
Because I’m fractured:
Get your hands off me!
Because I’m fractured:
Get your hands off me!
Get your hands off me!

Fractured,
Because I’m fra—”

[ Fractured – Hurts ]

Actually, this is the first photo from the Faith batch of the Inspiration Hurts project that I conceptualised. It’s a very distinctive song, with its experimental feel, immediate visual motives, super-relatable lyrics and… well, full-blown weirdness, in a good sense. It’s almost rapped, except half of it is whispered and the other is downright spit with contempt. God, I missed Hurts at their best.

So yeah, this is a photo that was practically taking itself from the get go: a dirty, cracked glass, and each piece shows a different reflection or scene, all in a different state of neurotic meltdown. Something unpretty and experimental to go along with the music of the song, while providing an immediate link with the imagery in the lyrics.

Shooting the photos was pretty quick and easy: I did it in the same session as Voices, being careful to have the same light and, especially, focal distance so that I would be the same size on each piece of the “puzzle”. Beside being the quickest and easiest solution, I wanted to model myself because I can absolutely relate with this song.

The biggest load of work was definitely postproduction: I started by working on the cracks, which I drew myself (I’m trying to avoid unnecessary outings due to the pandemics, so there was no way I would hunt the city for a broken window or something), then I preemptively shaped all the masks on solid colour layers so it would be easier to insert the individual photos, added each self-portrait, beauty-retouched each of them on the spot, made sure the composition made sense, turned it monochromatic and added the dirty glass texture for a more photorealistic effect. It took me about one whole evening, but it’s one of those graphic projects that relax me while keeping me challenged at the same time, so I actually had a lot of fun.

I’ve got another couple of photos that I can do quickly and easily now before Faith hits the “I need a couple modelling for me” standstill that has swamped the previous three albums. I think I’ll try to take them in the coming weeks while still high on inspiration from the recent album release, then we’ll see where these crazy times take us.

Stay safe, everybody.