Alfred Conteh utilized a number of approaches that make this portrait of an Atlanta teenager unique within his oeuvre. Rather than placing the figure against a deteriorated, oxidized field of color, Conteh blended him into flat layers of visual references that include emoticons, text blurbs, and a map of Southwest Atlanta, the area where the young man was from. While in Conteh’s presence, this young man was texting on his phone rather than talking. He had a blank look on his face and spoke in short bursts. The mapping effect on the portrait suggests a sense of digital artificiality to the inner and outer life of the figure. Conteh painted the work more quickly than usual because he wanted to convey a sense of immediacy, a reference to how little time this individual was willing to spend having a human interaction. Rather than naming the portrait after the individual, Conteh titled it for the feeling he got from the interaction. “In regard to youth, how they communicate with each other, a lot of kids don’t talk a lot,” says Conteh. “I see a lot of antisocial behavior. One day I was sitting down getting some food, and I noticed kids texting each other. They were in the same room. They weren’t even talking to each other. How they talk on social media—with broken English, communicating emotion using emoticons—typifies how they treat each other.” As with all of Conteh’s portraits, the politics of contemporary African American life are embedded within this image. “I think in regards to upticks in violent crime I’ve seen here and around the country, that has a lot to do with how kids do conflict resolution,” Conteh says. “They don’t have the skills to communicate how they feel about something. When I hear stories of cats who have disagreements, a lot of times they go from disagreement to damn near murdering each other, going from zero to 100 because these dudes don’t know how to effectively talk to each other.”