Day 4 – visual diary by Theo Stanley / NYC @theo_stanley Images can have a visceral affect on my body. We are now bombarded by imagery, and counter-intuitively, it has not been a numbing experience for me, but rather one of greater sensitivity, with further awareness of the consequences as our mind and body receive the images and digest them in some way. I am aware of this penalty when viewing difficult but important bodies of photographic work, or difficult films. As thresholds of violence and trauma continue to get pushed and explored in photojournalism, art making and cinema, we tread deeper into corners of the psyche, and its ability to rebound, and for better or worse will understand the impact of weighted truth and awareness of the staggering potential for both light and darkness in human nature. I raise this thought to try and initiate dialogue with this community about the sensitivity to images amidst the barrage of imagery that is our modern world. It seems important to protect that sensitivity and discernment, now more than ever. Not protection by hiding, but protection by elevating our empathy in the act of seeing, and communicating, and being self aware. In my humble opinion this helps to meet the challenge for image makers to find their authentic voice in the midst of a cacophony, and also be responsible for what they put into the world. It is certainly not always about beauty, but images that can hold some fragment of truth, irony, or mirror that takes us out of our perspective, and makes us think, and challenges our supposed security. Have others experienced this re sensitizing rather than numbing?