One book that has inspired my major project is Francesca Tolot's book "One woman, 100 faces". Over 22 years, Francesca and her photographer husband, Alberto, used one model, Mitzi Martin, to create a "visual journey exploring the many facets of a woman" (Mattock, 2013 cited by Tolot, 2013).
Figure 1,2 & 3. 1 woman, 100 faces.Clarke, K (2014).
The idea of how far individuals will go to change their appearance and the influence of Francesca Tolot inspired the idea to take one model and change her appearance four times. Using wigs, makeup, prosthetics and costumes to represent how much can be changed and how this could be interpreted into film and television.
The model chosen is Darcey Kenworthy, who has been the makeup artist's model before on numerous occasions.
The collaborations have always been successful. Darcey's enthusiasm and willingness to participate and undergo these transformations is compelling; she adds something unique and injects extra character to each look.
The four looks initially planned are:
1. Changing hair and eye colour by making a custom fit wig that has been hand-knotted and using the model's own blue contact lenses and different makeup colours to create an entirely different looking Darcey.
2. Body modifications are fashionable and on-trend at the moment, in the form of hairstyles, tattoos, piercings and ear stretching. These represent a person's identity and personality. The type of tattoo that most find attractive through research will be designed and made with tattoo paper and applied. Even though Darcey has multiple piercings already, which will add to the look, prosthetic pieces will be sculpted and made to apply to her to create the effect of ear stretching. A bald cap will be applied, and a previously hand-knotted hairpiece made by the makeup artist will be applied to complete the look.
3. Cosmetic surgery has increased by 200% since 2000. (American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2018). Whether it's good or bad, surgeries have been documented a lot in the media. The aim is to transform Darcey's face as though she has successfully gone under the knife using prosthetics, face lifting tape and makeup. The intention is not to portray a look of botched cosmetic surgery but one that has enhanced certain features. Whether this is attractive or not is debatable.
4. Gender identity refers to a person's individual and internal gender experience and may not match their designated sex at birth. (World Health Organisation, n.d). Trans-men have been almost completely ignored and met with trans-phobic reactions, like Max in the television programme The L Word portrayed by actor Daniela Sia. (Bendix, 2020). Gender expression can be choosing to express your gender through names, hairstyles, behaviour, clothing, voice and body features. So to create a believable transgender man, prosthetic pieces will be sculpted and made to enhance male features. Along with makeup and costume in the correct background setting, the final look can be created to represent the trans-men and non-binary people that GLAAD claim "has been largely invisible on television" (Bendix 2020).
References
American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2018). New statistics reveal the shape of plastic surgery. [Online]. Available at: https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/press-releases/new-statistics-reveal-the-shape-of-plastic-surgery. (Accessed 10 October 2021).
Bendix, T (2020). How a new class of trans male actors are changing the face of television. [Online] Available at: https://time.com/5686290/transgender-men-representation-television/. (Accessed 20 December 2021).
Tolot, F and Tolot, A (2013) One woman 100 faces. London, Goodman.
Figures reference list
Figure 1,2 & 3. Clarke, K (2014). Beauty book-1 woman, 100 faces. [Online]. Available at: http://www.talesofapaleface.com/2014/09/beauty-book-1-woman-100-faces.html. (Accessed 2 October 2021).
Figure 4. Thorp, N (2021). Darcey Kenworthy. York College. York.