Following feedback on the first day of the exhibition, I created a set of notes that were printed and placed in the gallery for visitors to pick up and peruse during their visit.
Exhibition Notes – Fractured Identities
Self-portrait
Raw and unedited image
The bags under my eyes are Chanel
How I truly am under my glasses
Lash obsession
Mirroring the obsessive nature of selfies. These images are not digitally enhanced but instead are of me wearing many different pairs of false lashes in around 90 minutes. I set out to achieve 9 images but became obsessed with creating a bigger and bigger picture. I only gave up when my eyelids were so stuck together that it hurt to free them.
The image names are created from the makeup reference numbers in the supporting booklet.
Enhancement?
PortraitPro Software was used to enhance each image incrementally
The mask of divine proportion
(Marquardt Beauty Mask)
The “golden ratio” proportions are found throughout nature. Dr Marquardt carried out research that led him to develop a mask that defined a mathematical beauty code for the human face. In this image, I take the mask, apply it to my face and then edit my face in Photoshop to make it conform to the mask. The resultant image is in the bottom left-hand corner.
The contour tribe
To consider the current trend of contouring and sharing the process and finished product online, I chose to apply different contouring to my face and use the images to create a tribal image
The image names are created from the makeup reference numbers in the supporting booklet.
Make me more appealing for Instagram
I asked photo editors and retouchers around the world to enhance my portrait to make it “more appealing for Instagram”
The edits are from (left to right, top to bottom):
Top row: ORIGINAL / CANADA / INDIA / MEXICO
2nd row: CHINA / CALIFORNIA / INDIA / HUNGARY
3rd row: VIETNAM / TEXAS / INDIA / NEW YORK
Bottom row: LONDON / BANGLADESH / AUSTRALIA / INDIA
FIMUP003/FIMUP008/FIMUP009/FIMUP016/ FIMUP019/FIMUP021/FIMUP026/FIFLA002/ FIFLA006/MANIP
An eyelash obsession image edited to the maximum.
The image name is created from the makeup reference numbers in the supporting booklet.
Digital Display 1 – Props, wigs and makeup trials
Images showing how much my appearance can be altered by using makeup, different props, masks, and wigs.
Digital Display 2 – Beauty gadgets
Trialling different facial beauty enhancers from around the world.
Digital Display 3 – Instagram Gallery
Mirroring my Instagram image collection which combines words and images.
Digital Display 4 – Instagram Gallery
Mirroring my Instagram image collection as individual images.
Digital Display 5 – Facial recognition software
Using Microsoft Azure Face Software – Face detection
The software is used to detect one or more human faces in an image and get back face rectangles for where in the image the faces are. This is similar to the software used on Facebook when tagging images. The software also delivers information about the face – age, emotion, gender, and whether or not the person is wearing glasses. Uploading my images into the software, my age varies from 20 to 62, and my gender is determined as mostly female, although in some images the software determines that I am male!
Digital Display 6 – Make me more appealing for Instagram
I asked photo editors and retouchers around the world to enhance my portrait to make it “more appealing for Instagram”.
The edits are each compared against the original. Edits were collected from the following locations:- Canada, India, Mexico, China, California, Hungary, Vietnam, Texas, New York, London, Bangladesh, Australia.
Digital Display 7 – Beauty gadgets and behind the scenes videos
Various videos running on a loop showing behind the scenes and trials of different facial beauty enhancers from around the world.