Shy Exhibitionist

shy1 (shī)

adj., shi·er (shī'ər) or shy·er, shi·est (shī'ĭst) or shy·est.

Easily startled; timid.
Drawing back from contact or familiarity with others;
retiring or reserved.
Marked by reserve or diffidence: a shy glance.
Distrustful; wary: shy of strangers.

Not having paid an amount due, as one's ante in poker.
Short; lacking: Eleven is one shy of a dozen.

intr.v., shied (shīd), shy·ing, shies (shīz).

To move suddenly, as if startled; start.
To draw back, as from fear or caution; recoil.
n., pl. shies (shīz).
A sudden movement, as from fright; a start.


shy2 (shī)

v., shied (shīd), shy·ing, shies (shīz).

v.tr.
To throw (something) with a swift motion; fling.

v.intr.
To throw something with a swift motion.

n., pl. shies (shīz).
A quick throw; a fling.
Informal. A gibe; a sneer.
Informal. An attempt; a try.
[Perhaps from SHY1.]

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Queer Peformativity: Warhol's Whiteness / Warhol's Shyness

Untitled #12

This image was taken in 2004 on my back stairs. I was listening to 'Angel, we'll go down together' at the time and somehow it seemed quite an appropriate position to put myself in, with the sun beating its way through the back door and an answerphone message I refused to listen or reply to. By acting out emotions through the body alone, words became meaningless and disfunctional; language essential.

"This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction"

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus