Consuming Beauty, 2012

 

 

The makeup industry is a rather strange phenomenon. This multi-billion dollar market is, for the most part, fuelled by and directed towards only half the population. Very few women wear no makeup, and those that do usually own a large quanitity of cosmetics. In North America at least, cosmetics have ceased to be luxury items and have become a necessity. Some women even refuse to be seen in public without makeup.

​

Playing into this necessity for makup is the media's presentation of beauty: the highly manipulated photos we see in magazines and advertisements. A comparison between these airbrushed beauties to a regular person is unrealistic, and yet we make this comparison every day. We judge ourselves by unattainable standards and find ourselves lacking.

​

As a society, we desire beauty and youth. The desire to alter our appearances is so engrained that we no longer consider it unusual. This project seeks to bring this phenomenon from an unanalysed norm into the realm of conscious thought.