Closing: Chapter 1

Last Thursday evening, Lauren and I worked on the final shoot for the first chapter of the book. I had been thinking ever since testing with Chris for this chapter that I wanted to focus solely on the truth of the model's face to showcase herself and her self identity, as oppose to showcasing my identity and skills as a Make-up Artist. Physically, our anatomical differences are unique to us, the texture of our skin for instance. Our differences help to identify us and by enhancing this it will aim to focus on the reality of who we really are. 

   The shoot went fairly well and I experimented with the skin by maintaining a natural, matt finish contrasted with a glossy and textured finish. This challenges the boundaries of beautiful skin and whether this has an impact into the perception of the aesthetic self.

Quirky directors Lernert and Sander work towards a similar aesthetic of discovering what natural beauty represents, in their surreal short film Natural Beauty. Makeup artist Ferry van der Nat and his assistant Vanessa Chan helped to execute the vision but slathering the face in 365 days worth of product. The final result seemed to contradict the original film title however it creates a fascinating insight into what we are putting onto our faces every day in order to create a facade or improved version of ourselves. I am also focusing on the texture of skin by utilising make-up however I want to let the skin reflect the face as appose to the makeup product doing so. 

Edward Steichen "Beauty Primer" Your Hands, June 1934
I have explored this idea of 'imperfecting' the concept of perfection in the 'Closing' chapter through both the use of make-up design as well as exploring the realms of human anatomy in determining the output of the face. What makes the face, a face? I believe that we have numerous faces. The hands, feet and the unique prints of each finger and toe could be a truer representation of who we represent as appose to identity being solely determined by facial features and textures of the skin. Historical photographer Edward Steichen has been an inspiration to this chapter as his work challenges the emotion of the body through posture, pose and composition. He studied the hands and feet in very interesting ways, this image in particular (above) communicates the idea that the hands can act as a secondary face, a face that can never ever be duplicated or compared to any other.

 The anatomy in this series is a landscape, vast and unique in composition, texture and stance. The images shown are the originals however post production is crucial to create a black and white finish. It has been proven that dreams are rarely recalled in black and white, however this relies on the state of the subconscious. Closing represents the mind about to embark on the journey into the subconscious, therefore it remains semi-aware.

The water in this series metaphorically presents the space and progression of the mind as it prepares itself for the ascent of the dream state. I love the uncontrollable movement of water and how this can be digitally captured in time. Out thoughts and feelings are often just as impulsive and uncontrolled when first entering the mind, and it is only when we are conscious that such thoughts can be controlled.

The Blur of Reality

Her eyes are glazed by the gloss of an imperfect world

Here are some of the edits so far from the series. The main art direction for the finals was to maintain as much natural skin texture as possible and to emphasise every crease or line in the skin and the lips to bring truth and meaning to the photographs. 'Closing' is a focus on the face as a canvas of emotion, and I feel that every external flaw on the face speaks about a certain internal emotion or experience that we may have had. I find this really fascinating as I feel that this is one way of distinguishing oneself from another. Lines are unique, almost sacred to every individual as no two lines can ever be identical. Each time we speak, the lines may move and intertwine with each other, until eventually they disperse onto the skin as we grow older. This series aims to capture such lines in a moment of youthful realism and focuses on the mind losing control of itself, spiralling into the excitement of the unknown.