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Kom ขอม at the Songkhla Market Thailand

UGLY? I asked Kom (ขอม) if I could take her picture, but she hesitated, saying “I have this black mark on my face.”

Unfortunately, advertising only shows faces that are light-skinned, young and blemish-free. Now, we everyday people stupidly think that this is true beauty. Why aren’t faces with scars, big noses, black marks or grey hair beautiful?

I once had a girlfriend who had a large, fiery-red birthmark stretched across her arm. She called it her dragon tattoo. Her eyes smiled when she told me. She had turned this (ugly?) mark into something powerful, and then I too recognized it’s beauty.

This morning I returned to the market in Songkhla. I gave Kom two copies of her portrait. She was so excited, and walked around showing the pictures excitedly to her neighbors.

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Uploaded on September 14, 2019