Noell S. Oszvald’s elegant and simple self portraits featuring a bird, a beach, and a girl depict a much grander motif for life. She adopts digital manipulation to get her symbolism across that nature alone cannot provide. Osvald purposely does not title her work because she does not want to lead the viewer on to a specific concept or idea. In this visual piece, she hints at themes of opportunity, melancholy, escape, distress, and liberty. Through tactics of symbolism, distinction, and proximity, Noell S Oszvald depicts to the witness a journey of self awareness, melancholy, and hopefully freedom. By looking at the lone girl, the ebony bird, and their shadow combination, the viewer can see a profound metaphor, which most observers miss; this is crucial because Oszvald discretely places motifs of liberation and depression, through contrasting.    

Noell uses many visual art tactics in her work to add importance, detail, and symbolism. The sun, which the viewer cannot see, is to the left of the frame since it causes a shadow from the sole girl and the bird flying high. The shadow of the two forms one fluid shadow that resembles an angelic figure. Oszvald uses this perspective from the frame to disclose to the viewer this specific angle, which includes the importance of the shadow, horizon, and water. The contrast of the angel’s shadow against the white sand, catches the viewer’s eye. The opposition between the dark ocean and the light sand catches the observer’s attention with the sharp difference in the diagonal and horizontal lines. The diagonal line of the road before her gives off a sense of instability and loss of direction. Besides the girl, all of the images in the foreground and background are two dimensional, where as she is three dimensional. Also, by placing her in the foreground, Oszvald is displaying how essential the woman is to the story. The viewer’s eyes keeps resting on the girl herself, because her skin is the only thing that is a pure white color, in the foreground of a dark background. Oszvald photographs in black and white because color is distracting from her conceptual ideals. She conveys her ideals simply through this method and her lack of organic shapes with only the use of harsh geometric lines in the background. The picture is taken from an odd angle or vantage point to throw the viewer off with the diagonal and horizontal lines. 

Oszvald uses the simple structures in her photograph to convey a deeper message that is up to interpretation of the reader. The bird pictured above the girl symbolizes freedom, perspective, and finding one’s own voice. Native Americans see birds as God’s messengers. While this concept relates to the concept that the picture has a religious theme. The bird is flying away from the girl, which can mean that it is exiting towards freedom. The shadow of the angel reenforces this ideal. Angels represent divine awareness, purity, and perseverance. If Oszvald wants the reader to receive an afterlife theme, the picture could represent the lone girl escaping life to go to heaven. The idea that supports this is from Christianity, where they believe birds are seen as souls leaving for paradise. On the flip side, black birds stand for the unknown and angels symbolize perseverance, as the women leaves for her new life. In the background and edge of the the deep ebony ocean, there is a small luminous horizon, symbolizing the hope and faith in the future on her new adventure. 

If Oszvald desires for the viewer to receive a melancholy theme, there are images to support this concept. The sand aids this claim due to it’s small and minute nature, to make the reader feel small. When glancing at the ocean in the background, the viewer can only see the surface, even though the viewer knows the ocean’s vast surface and depths. It symbolizes the combination of possibilities that are unknown. Lastly, whether the sad girl is leaving, seeking independence, or simply sad, her long hair symbolizes the stamina and courage to depart.

 By glimpsing at the somber bird, the sole woman, and their shadow mix, the observer can see an intellectual and subtle motif, which most viewers do not note; this is imperative because Noell discretely installs symbols of wistfulness and repression. The intended audience could be anyone from an everyday person or one suffering depression and oppression. The purpose is to demonstrate the correlation between despair, the desire for independence, and departure. Lastly, Noell places a hint of hope in the glimmer of light in the horizon, explaining to the observer to push through the hard days. 