Confine, refine, design.

I am now working on the last two chapters of my book titled 'Descent' and 'Awakening'. Both focus on the distortion of the dream through a semi-conscious limbo, and I hope to portray such intricate and conceptual meaning through the visual medium of makeup and photography.

In Interpretation of Dreams, Freud discusses the notion of 'condensation' within the dream-work and how it is irrefutable that dream-formation is based on this process. Condensation has been a highly inspirational metaphor within the design process for 'Descent' as it perfectly encapsulates the movement process of limitless euphoria (symbolised through vapour) to the barrier between unconscious and conscious realities (symbolised through fluid water). There are many meanings and definitions to the word, 'condensation' depending on its context, however some of the most interesting derive from a chemical and psychoanalytical stance.

Chemical: a reaction between two or more organic molecules leading to the formation of a larger molecule and the elimination of a simple molecule such as water or alcohol.

Psychoanalytical: the representation of two or more ideas, memories, feelings, or impulses by one word or image, as in a person's humor, accidental slips, or dreams. 

It is both the symbol of transformation and confinement that fascinates my imagination the most. The idea that something invisible to the human eye, such as vapour, can be transformed into water, a molecule that can be both seen, touched and felt by the entire body is truly fascinating. It creates an almost seamless link  to the study of dreams as our imagination, within an unconscious dream-state, is arguably as free and dynamic as the vapour. However as the mind begins the journey of reaching consciousness, the solidification of water provides an intriguing link to the rationalising of the dream, a common trait for the dreamer. According to Freud in Interpretation of Dreams,

'we distort the dream in our attempt to reproduce it'

which bears a resemblance to the process of chemical condensation. The vapour becomes distorted into a liquid in order to re-enact its previous form, without the disregard of the original state. Similarly, upon reflection of a dream, the dream-thoughts become distorted into a broken-down,  rationalised series of events however to disregard the ambiguity of its original state would create a false significance of the dream.

Reflection such as this is an integral part of not only the conceptual thinking behind this project, but also for the visual creation of it. Similarly to the multi-meaning idea of 'condensation', reflection also shares multiple meanings both physically, scientifically and psychologically.

The most relevant to the project would be the psychophysical aspect, with water being the most important symbol. As mentioned in previous posts, water has been used as a running (no pun intended) metaphor for design throughout the book as it represents the clear space of the unconscious, allowing for perceptive thoughts to flow freely within.

Here are some of my favourite photographs (pre post-production) from the 'Descent' shoot with model, Kasia Bober. Photographed by Lauren Kaigg.

The Real Teal

Makeup design for the chapter focuses on the juxtaposition of cool and warm shades on the skin, eyes and lips. Beauty is almost always tonally categorised in this way and I wanted to see the effect it had when combining both together. I think the look is stunning and it captures the disturbed serenity of the dreamer.

Alex Box

I used a mixture of cream foundations and powder bronzers to create this contoured look on the skin, finding that creams worked slightly better for a more even and quickly blended complexion. I was inspired by Alex Box's design (below) for the skin as she combines a similar idea of using natural colours to create an unnatural, yet beautiful finish and as always, I love her attention to detail and true understanding of facial contours.

Hair design played a very important role in conveying the symbol of the barrier between unconscious and conscious reality. The idea for this actually happened by accident, which is the way that I find most of my ideas happen! Whilst I was making the brow mask (pictured below) I fitted it to my face in order to test for size. My hair happened to be on my forehead when sliding the mask down, causing it to be caught under the mask. I really liked the way the mask trapped the hair as it reflects on the way a dream often represent trapped, or fantasised desire.

Dream Esteem

The contrasting textures of hair and metal is another interesting element to the design as both are contributing to the symbol of confinement but in both a natural and unnatural way. The chains act as a continuation of the hair which is intriguing as it seems to suggest that the chains are coming from within the self, making a subtle statement about unconscious self esteem.

Art directing each shoot is something that I have really enjoyed doing throughout the whole process. The project is very personal to me and my journey throughout this course therefore I feel that my direction is very important. We used a black hive-like board for some of the shots which I really enjoyed as it was a very experimental photography technique. Lauren could only see light and dark through the grill so getting the perfect shot was a bit like playing the lottery! This is my favourite shot as I think Lauren has captured the perfect amount of light, shadow and texture. Kasia's gaze is very alluring, with her right eye being perfectly aligned to the viewer's eye.

I have really enjoyed working with textures within an image as appose to adding filters in post production as I feel that it reflects my style and motto as a makeup artist. I never rely on PhotoShop to correct my mistakes and I feel that by using primary texture as appose to secondary (post) it allows me to connect with the image much more, and will hopefully act in the same way to the viewers of the book.

I decided to adjust the teal lip as the shoot progressed as I thought it would be striking to use the teal to smudge on the outer corners of the lip with a natural prominence of brown for the remaining area. I feel that this gives more of a raw quality to the concept as appose to being predominantly fashion based, however both are equally as important in exploring the concept of my book.

Movement shots

As the shoot progressed, Kasia, Lauren and I become more experimental with direction and posing and this is definitely where my vision for the shoot was made much more vivid. I really loved the way the hair remained static yet the metal chains were free to dance and jump around the face as it gives a dynamic and almost surreal quality to the images.

The movement of the chains is a symbolic representation of the erratic movement of the mind when descending into a conscious state. Kasia's engagement with the camera gives the concept a fascinating depth and etherial quality which is just how I envisaged it to be. Edits coming soon.

Model: Kasia Bober
Photographer: Lauren Kaigg
MUA, Hair and Stylist: Lara Himpelmann