Hollywood Red, Lust Affair, Nude Embrace, Pink Pussy, Bikini So Teeny, Sunday Funday, Midnight Plum, Fatal Red, Rose Rush, Kiss Pearl, Shocking Coral, Master Plan, Lovie Dovie, Forever Yummy — these names read like a seductive mantra, drawing you into a kaleidoscope of desire. Blush, eye shadow, mascara, kajal, lipstick—testers and price tags blend together in a dizzying symphony of color and consumption. The cosmetics department, with its carefully curated shelving systems and inviting displays, exudes an air of abundance and allure. Yet, beneath the surface, there’s a gnawing sense that something feels off—unsettlingly so.
This duality between allure and unease reflects a broader cultural tension. In the age of visual excess, the image remains one of our most trusted tools for conveying truth. We still instinctively turn to photographs as evidence of reality, even though thinkers like Auguste Rodin observed long ago that “photography lies.” The camera, once seen as a neutral observer, is now understood to be a tool of manipulation, capable of shaping narratives just as much as it records them.
In our project, we embarked on a journey to explore this intersection of beauty and deception. We delved into the strategies employed by photographers who challenge the notion of the photograph as a true-to-life representation. By studying deliberate distortions, staged realities, and visual trickery, we uncovered how easily perception can be guided — and how often it is misled.
Building on these insights, we developed our own visual experiments, crafting a series of fakes, lies, and deceptions. Through carefully constructed illusions, we aimed to question the viewer’s belief in what they see, inviting them to confront the fragility of truth in the visual medium.
Much like the cosmetics aisle promises flawless beauty with every product, photographs promise authenticity with every frame. But just as makeup masks imperfections, photography often conceals layers of truth beneath its polished exterior. Our work seeks to peel back those layers, exposing the artifice — and in doing so, inviting a deeper conversation about the constructed nature of both beauty and reality.
