“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

This phrase couldn’t be truer. Pictures and photos have the ability to convey all sorts of meanings, emotions, and messages without having a single word written on it. Take this photo below as an example.

This image was captured at a Gay Pride event in 2009 in Brussels, Belgium. The child was attending with his father’s when he saw the Punk’s jacket. He went over, asked if he could touch the spikes because he wanted to know if they were sharp or not. The punker knelt to give the kid better access and talked to him. When the kid’s parents called him back, he gave the punker a little kiss before leaving.

The visual argument of this image can be broken down into the three parts, what feeling is being invoked in viewers, the context surrounding the image, and what message the image is telling viewers.

Firstly I chose this image over the other images I had found mainly because I felt like I needed a pick me up. Many powerful photos invoke a feeling of sadness and despair. This image, however, does not. Seeing this image causes the viewer to feel an overwhelming sense of happiness. The amusement in the punker’s face is contagious and many people can relate to the wonderment that this child is feeling being allowed to touch the spikes.

Next, the context of this images contributes to the invocation of emotion. They’re at a gay pride parade, which already makes the viewer have this feeling acceptance. This location allows them to be a be a mingling of people from different backgrounds, which contributed to their interaction.  I think it’s adorable to see how these two distinctly different people have such a pure interaction especially in a world where people judge others based on the complexion of their skin.

Lastly, on a surface level it’s pretty obvious what this image is showing, but if you look at it on a deeper level, it makes it even better. Here we have two extremely different people. There’s the punker who can be easily stereotyped into this angry, violent, narrow-minded individual based solely on his clothing and what he represents. And then we have the little black boy with the two dads, that’s overly curious. Without the picture as proof, it could be assumed that the punk would be annoyed by being approached by this random kid. The fact that he stopped what he was doing to allow this child to touch his spikes shows a lot. What is shows viewers is that you can’t judge a book by its cover.  This photo shows that it doesn’t take much for people (even those from vastly different backgrounds) to peacefully coexist and it could serve as a lesson to the rest of the world.