Kosovar-Bosnian bride

A Kosovar Bosnian bride, Senita Demirovic, has her face painted by a woman on her wedding day for a traditional ceremony in the village of Donje Ljubinje, Kosovo. The tradition, whose origins date from beyond living memory, is virtually viewed by almost all residents with universal pride as it has come to symbolize this place’s special identity. The bride has her face painted to prevent bad luck during the wedding ceremony. Donje Ljubinje is situated in the Shar mountains that form the border between Kosovo and FYROM. The inhabitants call themselves ‘Torbesh.’

Boo Ritson

"Boo Ritson paints people, but not on canvas or on board – she literally coats people with paint. Presented as photographs, Ritson’s portraits are a double masquerade: her subjects coated in sticky disguise, and the documentary image a surrogate representation of the tangible painterly, sculptural, and performative qualities of work. By using photography Ritson capitalises on the associations of snapshot memory and filmic narrative, with each of her characters playing out readily recognisable stereotypes.

Bathed beneath the gooeyness of common household paint, Ritson’s subjects are transformed into athletes, cowgirls, and slot-jockeys. Highlighting the malleability of identity, Ritson’s impostors are rendered oddly totemic as the dripping contours of their wet ‘skins’ create a statuesque effect that’s equally stoically chiselled and insincerely plastic. Balancing between social masks and suffocating veneers, Ritson’s painted effigies stand as psychological animi; a sentiment epitomised in Godfather, where the eyes of her living model are exposed, giving a jarring humility to his hard man mafioso exterior."

Via The Saatchi Gallery

 

Cowgirl, 2006

Girlfriend, 2006

Godfather, 2006

Slotplayer, 2006

Blue Swimmer, 2006

Illamsqua supports student collections

It is always exciting to see a Cosmetic brand like Illamasqua support burgeoning new talent, so I thought I would post the video they filmed of the Media Fashion Styling students at their fashion show a few weeks ago.