A Beauty Guide (2008) Some of my earliest memories involve watching my mother put on foundation in the morning and then remove it with cold cream at night. I am fond of make-up, but I realize that it is a bizarre invention. I put paint onto my face in order to look natural, like a flawless beauty. I am not alone in my childhood fascination. My nieces adore nail polish and other “grown up” woman things. A Beauty Guide is an experiment to see how young girls react when the rules are taken away and they are given free reign for a few hours. The girls were given dresses and make-up. Then we went out into the woods to shoot the video. I did not instruct the girls on what each make-up item was or on how to use it. My only orders were for them not to poke each other or boss each other around. The resulting footage was somewhat strange, funny and beautiful. In the video montage you can see the seriousness and gravity of the situation, three little girls unsuccessfully attempting to conform to society’s expectations of women. |