appearances

Appearances: What significance do they have?

The visual appearance of things can mean everything, or absolutely nothing. As a visual artist, the way things look can mean so much... just with variance of line or change in color pairing, the entire meaning or feel of a piece can change. For example, Carnovsky's RGB mural that is chaotic in white light but perfectly ordered in red, green or blue light.

Yet at other times, physical appearance holds no meaning whatsoever. 

So let's talk about Yellowman.

Born in 1956, Christian Winston Foster grew up in a Catholic orphanage called Alpha Boys School in Kingston, and was shunned due to having albinism, which was usually not socially accepted in Jamaica. Then in 1986, Yellowman was forced to undergo a very invasive jaw surgery to remove the malignant tumor that had formed from previous skin cancer. This surgery permanently disfigured Yellowman's face, as a large portion of the left side of his lower jaw had to be removed to successfully extract the tumor. (Thanks Wikipedia!!)

By most standards, Yellowman is not a handsome fella. But... does it matter?

Take a listen to the first 40 seconds or so of this song:

The melody of Yellowman's single "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng" has been sampled & imitated over 30 times since its original release in 1967 by such artists as Sublime, Notorious B.I.G, 2-Pac, and P.O.D. He is widely credited for leading the way for the succession of reggae artists that were embraced by the growing hip-hop community in America during the 1980s. Yellowman continues to tour and perform to this day. One reviewer of Yellowman was quoted as saying "Listening to Yellowman sing is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball. He knows he's got it, you know he's got it, and it's a trip just experiencing him perform." 

The beauty of the stories contained within books aren't based on their covers.

The nature of the souls within people are not contingent on their physical attributes.

So tell me... of what significance are appearances?