2 July 2001
Image

"So how come she hasn't got more sexy pics of her up there?"

Thus spoke a friend of my brother's, referring (I think) to the photos section of this website. The album cover, too, isn't as flattering as it could be. A fair question: how come?

The simple answer is: uh, well, we were just futzing around with a camera at the time. Some of 'em were interesting, is all. If you want cooler pictures, check out Adam Tow's photo gallery. We're probably going to replace the photos up there soon with some of Adam's, or if I cave in and go to a professional for promotional pics, they'll go up there too.

On a deeper, more ambivalent level...it's a funny thing for me. I rebel against the music industry's current emphasis on the Image -- it creates an environment where only young, physically attractive (or at least exotic-looking) artists can succeed, which is a silly prerequisite for success in an art that people listen to. I'm on the cute side of plain-looking, I think, and I am young -- I could go for the touched-up sexy-ingenue look if I wanted to. And that's exactly why I don't want to. The idea of using my looks to sell my music is not appealing to me in the least, particularly since it would only contribute to the discrimination against older, less-than-gorgeous, amazingly talented musicians.

But then there's the question: if I'm so opposed to the idea of using my image, why do I have pictures up here at all? I could get artsy on y'all and put just my name and the album title on the cover, put pretty patterns instead of photographs here on the website. My looks would be a mystery, and hopefully irrelevant, aside from occasional curiosity. You'd see me at shows, say "oh, so that's what she looks like," and that'd be the end of it. Why not that?

...I don't know.

Because I do want people to know what I look like. Maybe that's it, actually. Music is still visual to a certain degree -- images comprise a language equally powerful to sound, and can become an integral part of an artist's work if the whole package is viewed as a work of art. We haven't quite gotten to that point, obviously. But there is value just in connecting a face to the voice. So we've put pictures of me on the website and on the album art: some pretty, some not. It's more or less the way I am in real life: lovely in some moments, other times quite ordinary, yet other times downright funny-looking. *grin* I will confess that I furrow my brow at some of the photos on here now and then. But I think it's good for me, and maybe for other people too, to remember that I am not an airbrushed person.

Honesty is what I'm after, in the end. I like photos of me that capture the spirit of my personality and of the music I write. We'll keep looking for more.

- VT