The Expression of Emotions

The title of this series is taken from the book by Charles Darwin, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. In it the naturalist sought to corroborate his theory of evolution by means of a detailed analysis of the way emotions are expressed through gestures and body language.

For this work Bonillas was particularly inspired by the illustrations in the Darwin book, because of their precise description of the physiognomy of different types of emotional behaviour. With this in mind, the artist chose to look into the diversity of situations where a person portrayed in a photograph might appear with his or her eyes shut (a case Darwin does not examine). One of the mandates of the genre of portraiture is that the subject must look directly into the lens. If this does not happen the picture is normally retaken. Yet in the world of the  J.R. Plaza Archive, the artist was able to find a number of moments where this rule was not followed, for whatever reason.

Besides using the glass to “illuminate” the faces shown, Bonillas employs a range of literary references that throw light on the images, and therefore working as a kind of guide to the various emotions portrayed. Each of the fragments is numbered so that it can be read along with the accompanying photography.