Some lack skill — or the energy — or simply do not bother to conceal what they feel. I am not sure which operates most strongly in our photograph. Our portrait subject converses with a taller woman of a different race, whose face and demeanor are hidden from us. Our lady has dressed joyfully in yellow exposing her attractive skin, accented by the simplest necklace and dangling earrings. First impression: it looks as if just prior to our snapshot the woman ate something very bitter (half a lemon perhaps), and thus her joy has been interrupted. Without doubt she has a sour taste in her mouth; what has caused the acid to flow we cannot tell. Whatever was said (or is being said), it has made a curious blend of fake smile and open disgust appear on our subject’s face. Her eyes are a toxic mixture of skepticism and anger with hints of condescension — all occurring within boundaries of polite convention.

Our world contains information farms so vast they will decay and pass away before they can be fully explored. Are they recording the most operative events in social evolution? This photograph has captured a fleeting but consequential instant of contemporary time, typically lost to history. This could be a simple case of ethnocentrism throttling a conversation; neither person completely understands the other’s culture and upset has resulted. It is possible the disturbance has a racial angle; the woman in yellow’s radar might have picked up faint signals of bigotry or ignorance; and so this failed communication — largely hidden from the world — could represent an example of the proverbial chaos of a mosquito’s wings instigating widespread harm.