Lost and Found

Photos - Interview Magazine


Where am I now? Gareth Pugh's video has really excited my imagination, it was the performative nature of the video as much as the imaginative use of make up application that was so evocative of the approach I wish to take. I had been thinking about modes of material to skin surface manipulation for some time and Pugh has confirmed this approach is probably the right one. His video shouts the joyous, contemplative and often private invocation of appreciative beauty and personal acceptance. Subsequently I have chosen to focus my practice based research on alternative beauty rituals, methods and their representation (hair will be included). The intention is to experiment with textures and effects and posit a range of products and materials as cosmetics. By investigating the underlying themes surrounding beauty rituals I hope to open up debate surrounding representations of public/private self.

Perhaps by using a variety of settings to examine the appearance rules that we confront daily I can assess how these rules reproduce assumptions about sexuality and gender. Appropriate makeup use is strongly associated with assumptions about health, heterosexuality, and credibility and can shape our personal choices about how and what to wear as makeup. By examining how some designers and artists transform the meanings of wearing makeup I may able to attempt to subvert institutionalized norms and find my own possibilities for resistance.