Anxiety Series

Arjun Kamath, spoke to me over the phone and explained his "Anxiety Series" to me, I was wondering how this boy can pull off a message so important in words and a photograph, he answered me well, take a read...

Back home, dog-tired
Shilom stands by his bed.
A cursory glance at his phone reveals
No messages,
No calls
.
Was he well-dressed that night?
Was his shirt too tight?
Did he eat too much?
He sinks into bed, chest heavy
.
’It’s not about looks’, his friends would chirp
’You look handsome’, his mother assured
But he grew up chubby,
Treated with disdain,
Faced with unrelenting scrutiny.
He ploughed through insults
Day,
After day
.
Tears welling in the dark,
Plump face lit by the phone screen,
No notifications from her
The darkness now his blanket of protection
.
’Have you looked at yourself?’ a kooky voice summons.
He bolts upright, jostled,
Surrounded by skinny mannequins
’Overgrown numbskull!’
Shilom’s eyes widen
His bedroom spins, walls collapse
An alleyway stretches without end,
Bright spotlights flash;
Illuminating his tubby frame.
Mild murmuring;
An audience hides in the dark
.
He would fit in.
Thunderous applause would follow.
Somehow…
Yes!
.
’You could never be us!’ the lanky mannequins jeer
Their eyes bore holes in his bulbous flesh.
Shilom confronts a mannequin
Meets its gaze
Tries on new pants;
They don’t fit!
Another pair…
Too tight!
Another…
His stomach bulges
And the mannequins smirk.
Useless,
An oversized ratbag at best
.
The mound of discarded clothes grows
As his confidence drains.
The murmuring stops
His heart pounding impossibly hard,
The mannequins eye his protruding belly,
Shame.
The audience boos
The spotlights dim. ’No! Wait!’
The darkness presses in
.
’Ping!’ Shilom opens his eyes,
Phone illuminated on his chest
A message from her:
’I really like you— ‘
Deep breath
’—but only as a friend’.
Shilom looks up
The mannequins hang from the ceiling
Like rabid bats
Frothing from their mouths
Swinging freely
“You overgrown mess!” they sneer.
.
The room starts to spin
all over again
.
.
.

Shilom- @pdschandra
Styling- @wardha_ahamed
Production Design- @studio.slip
MUA- @makeupbypragna .
.
.
#TheAnxietySeries #PhotoStory #MentalHealth #Poetry #Storytelling #Photography