madinfantscry

The word “mad” is a fitting description for an infant’s cry. Its scream is so saturated with contrasting emotions that it’s hard to tell whether the child is feeling wildly happy, enraged, or what’s really going on. Leaving behind the comforts of the womb, every new born has to have a completely different environment. Are their screams an expression of shock on being confronted with an alien planet? Or of joy on discovering a new world? Or even of sorrow on leaving the womb behind? I can’t help thinking that their primal screams embody the maddening excitement they feel on coming into contact with life. Didn’t the birth of each and every one of us bring madness into this world?

Kazuo Ohno