No Idea: 1967

[johncomic]

My 61^st acrylic is another in my projected No Idea series.

To be honest, there isn't as much actual story per se behind this one as the previous ones — it doesn't depict a significant event. It was inspired by an old photo I ran across, showing me with my brothers and six of my cousins, taken in July 1967 on the shore of Cape Breton. All of us were sitting in a line, clad in swim trunks, on the edge of a pier. By this time I had learned to smile for the camera, albeit uncomfortable and overdone.

Looking at it this year, I found myself thinking about how blissfully unaware I was of what went on inside my cousins, their secrets and dark sides. And how I could say the same about everyone in the world around me. [Some of these things, I did learn as time went on. Others I still have no idea about.]

I also think today about how unaware all of us were about the risks posed by the sun. I believe that we probably had some sort of sunscreen on us in that old picture, because we were at the beach and not wearing shirts. And sunscreen was A Thing in that situation. But I also remember never wearing sunscreen back in the city, because we had shirts on then. As if a short-sleeved shirt somehow magically protected your arms and face from UV. I was always hearing about how Being In The Sun Is Good For You®, and so the more of it the better. Words like ozone layer or melanoma didn't exist back then.

Looking back on it now, it seems like a strange time.