Last Wednesday, I attended the art exhibit showcasing the work of Nicholas Carbonaro. His artwork was abstract, with distorted faces and lots of color in some of them. Many of the drawings had people with eyes that were different sizes, and not aligned. Before he explained what his inspiration and meaning behind his artwork was, I was intrigued by the drawings, as I thought they may be some representation that the world is not really how we view it, that nothing is really perfect, despite the desire in both the media and daily life to pursue perfection. His explanation of his inspiration and artwork really got at this exactly. He discussed the lack of symmetry in the real world, and the unrealistic nature of the “selfie” generation. This really resonated with me, as I have definitely noticed that there is societal pressure to attempt to make one’s life seem perfect and always seem put together, whether it’s a post on Instagram, or always having perfect hair and makeup whenever out in public. His artwork really provoked the opposite perspective, and the one he thinks is the true way the world is, and it is one that I agree with. The human race was not made to be perfect, and our attempts to counteract this on social media arise out of the false assumption that we should be perfect. Carbonaro made it clear, through both his artwork and discussion, that we should embrace our uniqueness, our lack of symmetry and the things that make us happy, which for him was being creative and expressing himself. Uniqueness is a key feature of being human, and failing to embrace this is a key mistake that many have fallen into. However, following Carbonaro’s advice, by embracing the things that make us different from others and pursuing the things we love and pleasing ourselves rather than others, we can overcome this pursuit of perfection that has been falsely instilled in our generation.