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What Do You Notice A Closer Look at Matt Van Swol’s Political Self Portrait Across Time
What Do You Notice? A Closer Look at Matt Van Swol’s Political Self-Portrait Across Time
In his quietly provocative piece titled “This is me as a liberal in 2020. This is me as a conservative in 2025.”, artist Matt Van Swol invites viewers into a timeline of self-reflection, identity, and political evolution – all through the simplest of contrasts.
The work features two images of the artist, five years apart, side by side. In the first, we see Van Swol in 2020, wearing a plain face mask emblazoned with the words:
“It Hasn’t Been Great.”
In the second image, labeled 2025, he is unmasked, dressed sharply, and – as many would agree – looks strikingly handsome, confident, composed.
And then, below the images, the question:
“What do you notice?”
The Mask and the Message
Let’s start with 2020. The face mask, a now-universal symbol of the COVID-19 pandemic, immediately places us in a specific cultural moment. But this isn’t just a public health accessory. The printed phrase “It Hasn’t Been Great” is more than a reference to global events – it’s an emotional check-in.
It captures the exhaustion, frustration, and hopelessness many people felt during that time – politically, personally, and socially. As “a liberal in 2020,” Van Swol presents himself as masked, vulnerable, and perhaps even disillusioned. He’s physically obscured, emotionally transparent.
Fast Forward to 2025
By contrast, the 2025 version of Van Swol is unmasked, sharply dressed, and undeniably confident. The visual polish – paired with the caption “This is me as a conservative in 2025” – is deliberately striking.
He looks like a man who has figured things out. But what does that mean? Has he changed his values? Has he found clarity or simply traded one mask for another – this time invisible?
Or is this a comment on how we perceive people based on political affiliation? That a “conservative in 2025” looks more composed, more successful – more marketable? Is the beauty and confidence in this image sincere, or is it meant to challenge the viewer’s assumptions about appearance, ideology, and identity?
So… What Do You Notice?
The brilliance of this work lies in its final question: “What do you notice?” It invites – even dares – the viewer to reveal their own bias.
Do you notice the physical glow-up?
Do you focus on the shift in political identity?
Do you read it as personal growth or a subtle critique?
Do you think he looks better as a conservative – and if so, why?
The work plays with the dangerous simplicity of surface-level perception. It makes you ask: What are we really responding to – the politics, the aesthetics, the cultural baggage of each label?
Ultimately, this piece is not about pessimism – it’s about acknowledgment. Acknowledging the weight we carry, the exhaustion we hide, and the courage it takes to admit that sometimes, we’re not okay. In doing so, the “It Hasn’t Been Great” face mask becomes strangely comforting. It allows us to say, without saying a word: You’re not alone.
A Visual Riddle, a Political Mirror Matt Van Swol
Matt Van Swol isn’t offering answers here – he’s setting a trap (a gentle one). In two simple images and a few lines of text, he captures the essence of our polarized moment. Identity becomes performance. Politics becomes personal. And beauty becomes subjective, shaped by context.
Most importantly, “This is me as a liberal in 2020 / This is me as a conservative in 2025” doesn’t tell us what to think. It asks us to reflect on how we judge. Not just others, but ourselves – across time, across ideology, across appearances.
In that way, it’s not just a diptych. It’s a mirror. And the real artwork begins when you answer the question:
What do you notice?