This performance, where I begin by drawing a self-portrait and gradually transform the image with playful makeup elements, reflects my exploration of identity and self-perception. Through the act of drawing myself, I engage with the question of how I view my own face, capturing it first in a raw, unembellished form. The addition of makeup to the drawing signifies a shift in how the figure is perceived and how I, as the artist, choose to portray and shape my identity. A quote from Abramovic “The whole idea is to slow down your mind,” is how I feel when doing this drawing and when I do my makeup. By ending the performance in real life, with the same makeup applied to my own face, I blur the lines between the artistic and the personal, emphasizing the performative nature of self-presentation.
Makeup in this piece becomes more than a cosmetic tool it is an extension of my creative process, a form of self-expression that transcends the boundaries of traditional art forms. I think of it as how performance artists use bodies to show their creative process and pieces. “But for Leonardo, the act of experiencing a space, memory, or feeling is simultaneously an opportunity to reflect, meditate, and explore.” The process allows me to alter and enhance my self-portrait in ways that reflect both my inner world and my engagement with societal notions of beauty and identity. “No wonder the work of so many artists parallels Sherman’s, or at least mine similar conceptual veins: role-playing and the nature of identity; sexual and cultural stereotypes; the pressure to conform to the images of perfection promulgated through television, film, and advertising” This playful experimentation mirrors how we all use makeup in everyday life, not just as a way to conform but as a means of crafting and presenting different versions of ourselves.
The artist I was inspired by is Abramovic with the Artist Is Present just in the title. I wanted to show through this performance art that yes you see the art being made but then you see the artist at the end. Another artist I was inspired by is Donna Huanca. A signature aspect of Huanca's practice is her use of cosmetic painting on the body, where she applies layers of paint, pigment, and textures onto human skin, blending abstract mark-making with the natural form of the body.
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