dedleg.com

I always thought windows like these were pretty cool looking… but apparently there are those who disagree quite strongly.

There was an article in the New York Times a week ago about jolie laide, directly translated as “pretty-ugly”, which reflects on an age old dispute — what’s more attractive, visually perfect features or visually interesting flaws?

Jolie laide aims to jog us out of our reflexive habits of looking and assessing by embracing the aesthetic pleasures of the visually off kilter: a bump on the nose, eyes that are set too closely together, a jagged smear of a mouth… it also recognizes that behind the visceral image lies an internal life. In that sense it is a triumph of personality over physiognomy, the imposition of substance over surface.

As I sift through a batch of mediocre photos, my side of that battle is plainly revealed. I tend towards the pretty-ugly… towards the pretty-fucking-ugly, even.

Of course, in this case “jolie laide” might largely be a nice euphemism for “very poorly lit photography,” but god damn it, it’s not my fault it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon now.