"If I lose half my sight, will my vision be halved?"

The second Climax shoot was very much inspired by the 1993 film 'Blue' directed by Derek Jarman. Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, the film follows a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music which poignantly conveyed a portrait of Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings and personifications associated with the colour blue. Here is a short clip from the beginning of the film:

The make-up design for this element of the Climax is designed to exude a sense of movement with colour, aiming to make a statement about the way colour can work as a language. Jarman fixates and almost meditates on the colour blue to reflect the loss of his sight and asks a poignant question

"If I lose half my sight, will my vision be halved?"


This is a fascinating idea and interrogatively questions whether physical sight can equalise a true vision as it could be said that true sight can only be envisioned through imagination. Ultimately, in order to express original and innovative designs within makeup, ideas must only be seen with the imagination as appose to the eyes as this allows for organic expression and unseen creations. 

I decided to use a darker skinned model for this design as the contrast of warm and cool tones of the blue, brown and orange hair worked very effectively. I used an airbrushing technique again for the make-up, as well as preparing the nails and airbrushing a marble effect onto them which looked great. I have really learnt so much from using the airbrush and now understand how versatile it can really be. Here are some of my favourite shots.

Italian futurist artist and sculptor Renato Bertelli was an inspiration for the reference development and composition of the photographs. When I was visiting the Guggenheim last year in New York, I was fascinated by one of Bertelli's most noted works "Head of Mussolini (Continuous Profile)" created in 1933. The profile of the face seems to be moving very fast yet it is completely stationary, which reflects on Jarman's idea that our vision isn't necessarily halved if sight becomes lost or even out of focus.

Renato Bertelli -  "Head of Mussolini (Continuous Profile)" 1933

 The colour blue is an aural spectacle in the film, and likewise aims to speak in a similar way through my design. Here are some of the movement images before full editing. Lauren experimented with slow shutter speeds which perfectly capture the essence of my concept. I love the way the features have blurred into each other and have been organically repeated like a niggling thought in the mind.  This process has been further inspired by artist and sculptor Renato B.

Kayleigh Hand - Illustrator

Kayleigh Hand - Illustrator

Zoren Gold and Minori

I worked with friend and animation illustrator, Kayleigh Hand to produce a series of graphic drawings that create my concept of 'outer styling'. As I could not find a professional stylist to help with the project, I started to think of ways in which I could use this setback as an advantage, and used ideas such as body painting, making certain pieces of clothing myself, and now the 'outer styling' idea which comprised of a digital impression of shapes and textures of clothing using PhotoShop. I was inspired by the wonderfully creative Tokyo-based dup Zoren Gold and Minori, with their contemporary approach to surreal photography, illustration, collage and graphic design. I purchased their book titled 'Object That Dreams' which features a wonderful array of fashion blended with illustration, textures and post production effects and found it very inspiring. 




Although the artwork that Kayleigh produced is stunning, when I compiled it together with the series and storyline of my other images, I felt that it hindered the sense of flow and natural progression. I think this may be due to the lines having a fairly science-fiction mood to them, something that my other images do not present. However it was a great experience to collaborate with such a talented graphic illustrator as it taught me how to direct my vision as an art director.