I know others have posted their interpretations of the photos each of the boys chose for their memorials to Liam... I'm going to share mine too. These photos are freeze-frame insights into each relationship, but even more, into each person, and where they hold Liam inside themselves. That is so powerful to me.
Niall's photo preserves him and Liam as boys -- happy, playful puppies who literally have each other's backs. They're still just starting out, not yet massive stars, excited for the ride they're on. It's a joyful photo of kids who haven't learned yet that the world will hurt you. They're mirroring each other's emotions, which indicates that they're connected emotionally, and the picture is a backstage/offstage photo, not a performance, which again reinforces its personal nature. It strikes me that Liam is being careful to keep his forearm low, across the top of Niall's chest, making sure it's not near his throat where he might feel choked. Liam is behind Niall and he is the one doing the embracing.
In the photo Louis identifies as exemplifying his relationship with Liam, they're in the midst of one of the famous onstage water (Gatorade) fights. It is peak onstage energy -- they are cranked up to 11, higher on adrenaline and dopamine than any drug could ever get them. The Gatorade is showering down on them and looks almost like fireworks, reemphasizing the incredible energy, the massive high of this moment. Every line of their faces and bodies is a mirror image, suggesting strongly that Louis sees and has always seen himself reflected in Liam. They're not merely brothers; they're twins. In this moment, they stand face to face, both of them with victoriously raised arms, both equally victorious -- no one is losing here; neither of them are experiencing loss or grief, just pure joy.
Louis's original cover photo shows him wearing that mischievous, foxlike smirk and Liam leaning in, perhaps singing a line as if he's singing it to Louis. The performance element reinforces Louis's message when he talks about having hoped they would share the stage again. I wonder if the line Liam is singing is in a song they co-wrote. Liam is looking directly at Louis even though he's only seeing the side of his face, but Louis's eyes are closed and he can't see Liam. I have to wonder if there is a psychological "tell" there -- if Louis feels like he had his eyes closed to the extent of where Liam was in terms of his emotional health. Again it is Liam who is doing the embracing.
Zayn's photo is as intimate as any photo I think I've ever seen. This is entirely offstage, obviously -- two exhausted young men, each a pillow for the other as they catch a few desperately-needed moments of sleep as they travel. Zayn is cradled on three sides by Liam's sheltering body and he holds Liam's knee for even more support. This is not a physical position you put yourself into unless you implicitly trust the other person. Liam's head rests awkwardly on Zayn's shoulder -- he is just as exhausted as Zayn, but won't let his own need for sleep disturb the comfort and security of his friend. Because they're both wearing grey hoodies, it's hard to tell whose limbs are whose, again indicating the strength of the connection between these two people. Though Zayn's words make reference to the fracture in their relationship that came to pass, the picture he chose is one that emphasizes their connection, the powerful sense of support that Zayn felt from Liam, and an aspect of their shared experience that hints at what made it ultimately intolerable for Zayn... and, as we now know, for Liam too.
Though all of them break my heart, Harry's photo breaks my heart in a different way. It's an onstage photo again, suggesting that Harry, like Louis, felt the most connected to Liam when they shared the stage. But whereas Louis's pictures emphasize the two boys' shared experience, Harry's is the only one that he himself is not in (as several people have noted, some of them ungraciously and even cruelly). Harry has erased himself. We've seen him do this, or try to do it, in many other ways when it comes to other people's performances (I'm thinking of Stevie and Niall in particular), so in part this is simply Harry being Harry: he always did use his camera as a diary of what he observed, and he recorded what moved him. In that way, this photo is intensely personal -- it's the only one that makes the viewer see Liam literally through Harry's own eyes. But the physical distance between the photographer and the subject, and the photographer's absence from the photo, both suggest a concomitant emotional distance between them. This is striking to me, because I think most Directioners understand that Liam struggled a lot with jealousy of Harry in particular -- with feeling that Harry was given the center stage, made the golden boy, even though Liam was the more experienced performer and arguably had the better voice (not to my mind, but no matter). Harry's photo gives Liam what Liam wanted but may have felt he was denied, specifically by Harry: it puts him dead center, alone in the spotlights, in front of a stadium filled with fans screaming for him. The joy and energy of the crowd can only be coming from Liam, because in Harry's photo Liam is the only one there. Harry himself is not just several feet behind him, he's completely invisible. Liam is seated confidently on a narrow and vertiginous catwalk. He doesn't fall.
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