Cara London

Concealed

I took these self-portraits to show the different layers of my image. The first is with no makeup, the second is a full face of makeup and the last is a highly edited version which I created using theories of Western beauty (the golden ratio and perfect symmetry). This piece aims to highlight the unrealistic standards that face women every day. With the advent of Photoshop and other editing tools we are being prevented from seeing real faces on social media and in advertising and I thought I should reflect on this and show that these ‘goals’ are unachievable and are making the younger generation question every feature of their face and body. For my physical piece I printed my work on a sheer fabric so that the layers could be seen on top of each other and peeled back to reveal the natural image below. I think it is important to show this side of the retouching world as many people are unaware of the veil of lies that they see every day.

I named my piece ‘Concealed’ as this is a makeup term as well as a synonym for masked and hidden which is what real beauty is being subjected to in the media, forcing people to constantly question themselves and their appearance.

To see more of my work go to https://caralondon.wixsite.com/photo or visit my Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/caralondonphotography/