The Truth Behind Makeup

In this project, I was assigned to convey the concept of truth. I took an image of a woman wearing a full face of makeup and captured a photo after each layer of makeup was removed. This showed the process of a full face to a natural face.

Within this project and similar to my other projects, I am identifying one common issue several girls in this society have; self-love. It is difficult to appreciate the way your body was made when pressures in society are telling you to be and look a certain way. In this project, showing a girl removing a layer of makeup in each image, resulting to her true form in the last image is similar to conveying her development to acceptance and confidence. She remains smiling even when she has resorted to the face behind all the makeup. For many girls, a full face of makeup is the way they choose to present themselves to the world; it is their truth, however the full face is due to the way women are shown in society. An acne-free face, rosy cheeks, long lashes, perfectly contoured, wide eyes, and colored lips are not reality. I am advocating that women should learn to love themselves regardless of the way the are presented. It is not how you look that matters. A full face and a natural face still show the same face.

During the process of creating this work, I was challenged not just creatively, but organizationally. I knew what I wanted to do and how I would achieve it, however I did not know the best way in communicating my thoughts and intent into my work. I decided to organize the images in a single file line from a full face to a natural face as I thought it was the best fit to indicate the transformation and development.

The most important thing that I learned during this project is that it is perfectly normal for the final project to not reach certain expectations, but what must be learned is committing and following through on the original plan, and finding a way to make the end result as desirable as possible.

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