Prettier.
By Women and men, make up artists, teenage
girls at home in front of their mirrors, and at beauty counters around the
world, make up is being applied. We all use make up in different ways, to
cover, conceal, to enhance our looks. Some use it to hide something, or
distract from something else. But for most, wearing make up makes a person feel
better inside. If that’s a boost of confidence, feeling more awake, or making a
girl feel prettier than she did before. Being pretty is defined as ‘attractive
in a delicate way without being truly beautiful’, but does make up, make you
beautiful?
‘Prettier’ shows how make up can transform a
person, does the audience look at the work, and appreciate the process the
model and make up artist is doing. Can you ask yourself if you would do this,
and if so, would it become an everyday thing? Does make up make you feel
beautiful? The images give reference to Native American War paint ritual, and
how this has evolved into creating a make up look. Contouring allows the person
to create highlight and shadow, and shaping the face entirely new.
The series of images are a placed in a time
line; they are showing the process of contouring taking place. We can see the
application of different colour and shades of product being smoothed onto the
face. The lines are specific and are used to enhance. Artist Phillip Toledano,
talks about how he feels about beauty in his work, A New Kind Of Beauty. He
says, ‘I’m interested in what we define as beauty, when we choose to create it
ourselves’[1].
This allowed me to think about how we all create our own idea of beauty when we
apply make up. The model in this work was not given any directions about where
to place the product. I wanted to see how she felt she would look best in this
way. Over all its about how she feels is best to apply this, and get the best
look for her. Through out the series of images, the model looked to be growing
in confidence, as more make up was applied. Her body language changed, lifting
her head and facing the camera more. Even though she admitted to not applying
this much make up on a daily basis, she looked as though she felt more
confident as time went on, and showed through her actions and they way she
presented herself.
Technology and science has allowed people in
the current age to create a look they want, using more permanent measures. Each
person, who has chosen to go through a surgical procedure, has been through a
transformation. They have transformed from how they were born, to how they look
now. Whether that is what they aimed for, we don't know. They all made the
choice to permanently change their appearance, not just their faces. Many say
they have plastic surgery to help their confident, and make them happier about
their appearance. But some may argue that natural beauty is always better.
‘Prettier’ looks at less drastic transformations, but still looks at the same
concepts. That wearing make up, is masking the true natural beauty. Are we
always completely happy with the way we look, even after applying a make up bag
of products to our faces?
‘Prettier’ has made me think about my own
feelings towards make up, and beauty. I have always liked to think I was
confident in my own skin, but still found it difficult to leave the house bare
faced. I researched into girls of my own age and found that I wasn’t alone. I
was able to gather 10 short statements from girls, enabling me to get insight
into how make up affects girls everyday. One statement said ‘It gives me more
confidence when I go out even when I'm just nipping to the shop, also makes me
feel more normal and more prettier as I feel/think I look rough and run down
without it’. The statements showed me that girls aren’t very confident without
make up in this generation, and they feel the need to take on the
transformation daily to feel prettier.
In Richard Brilliants book, Portraiture, he
talks about how in a portrait of ourselves, we would always want to be seen at
our best, whether that is true to life or not. He says, ‘A confessional mode of
self-presentation, tinged however with pride, confident that their personal
reflections would reach beyond themselves to an audience’[2]. We would all like to be seen at our best, and
many girls feel that applying make up, can achieve this.
My final 10 images show the transformation
make up can achieve. The images can be displayed together as a series, or
stand-alone. I want people to think about their own confidence, and if
something external can boost that feeling. Do we all need to be the natural
beauties, or do we just want to be prettier?
