Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

What do you see when you look in the mirror, beyond the surface?

This was the question asked of Livingston middle and high school students as part of the Mirror Project, a program designed by Susan Ridley of Livingston Youth Community Services. Ridley holds a B.A. in art therapy, an M.S. in human sciences and is a registered expressive art therapist who is working towards her Ph.D. in expressive arts.

The finished products – a series of mirrors in all shapes, colors and sizes, decorated to anonymously reflect what the students see in the mirror – were on display Tuesday at the Livingston "Love-In" that was hosted at the Livingston Town Center. The exhibit will be open throughout Youth Appreciation Week.

"We thought it would be great to do a workshop on body image," Ridley says, "Identity is a very important question for students, for everyone really. This project gave them an opportunity to reflect on who they are."

The mirrors reveal all sides of the psyche. Several seem to be cries for help, while others list favorite hobbies. Words are scribbled or carefully scripted in spirals or organized lines. Mirrors are covered almost entirely by murky colors, with only small spots peaking through, and smiley faces are doodled in clouds.

"The 'who am I' can be internal, external, or both," says Ridley. "It is amazing what they came up with."

One of Ridley's favorite pieces comes from a young poet who wrote, "I am, from the Chinese Oak in my front yard to the strings on my guitar, to the scribbles between the lines of life, to the moral values of wrong and right, to the dreams spilled on my pillows and my sheets, I am what I am. I love me."

Another simply wrote, "Color Light. Nature.," atop a drawing of a tree and an easel.

Every mirror from the project is displayed, says Ridley, "because there is no right and wrong."

On a rectangular surface marked with purple, black and blue dry-erase markers, a middle school student wrote, "The condensation on my mirror blocks my reflection. I try to move my hand closer to the glass BUT STOP short. I look down as water slowly pours from the faucet. I look up again…now it's a little more transparent, a little more disappointing. I turn the hot water back on and let the vapor rise. 

The mirrors beg the question, what exactly is going through the heads of the young students? Are any of these cries for help?

"It's easier to express yourself when someone doesn't know whose writing it," says LHS students Darren Cohen, who participated in the project. "You have a freedom to be yourself without being judged."

Cohen says he enjoyed the project.

"It allowed me to express myself in a different way. A mirror is something you look at everyday, but never think about otherwise. But what you see in these mirrors is your true self."

Two of Cohen's friends, who are students at Irvington High School, were checking out the exhibit for the first time on Tuesday.

"Some of these are really deep," says Terressa Spann. "It's like looking into the gateway to someone's heart."

Nyija Butler agrees.

"This is really creative. It's amazing how someone can put their whole life story on a small mirror," she says. "I can relate to some of these. They are so small, but they mean so much."

While there were plenty of students soul searching during the activity, others focused on describing what they see when they look in a mirror.

"I see the skinny girl I want to be," wrote one student. Others include: "Room for Improvement"; "A really nice person who is underappreciated"; "A boy with only a pen to change the world and a racquet to gain popularity."

The mirrors are sorted into categories, though there were no set assignments. Towards the back of the room sits a shattered rectangle that reads, "Broken and Sharp."

The artists are completely anonymous. Many did not hesitate to express what is going on deep inside, what only they can see when looking in a mirror.

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