Beauty2020 was a project I pursued with the intention of exploring personal relationships with beauty in 2020. My goal was to research and respond to the issue of physical insecurities as I see affect individuals around me as well as society on a larger scale. I thoroughly researched the landscape of beauty in 2020, focusing on how beauty images are created, shared and consumed in digital media and how this effects people in real life, observing the high frequency of photo editing and filtering on social media and information in regard to this issue, which I decided to write my undergraduate thesis on.

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I studied the human body as a malleable and changeable object. The perception of our bodies can be altered by techniques such as makeup, plastic surgery, clothing silhouettes and posture; these tools are used to disguise features as well as for self-expression and social power. I considered how I could utilise these tools alternatively; abstracting the body beyond social comparison or focusing on and highlighting insecurities.

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I decided to stage a series of “beauty interventions” to tackle a group of participants’ insecurities. These interventions would involve discussion about the insecurity in question as well as exploring positive ways of perceiving and portraying them. As the COVID-19 pandemic came into light at this stage of the project, I became extremely limited in both resources and participants due to the closure of my university campus and strict government lockdowns. I made the decision to limit these intervention processes to myself and two of my sisters.

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Some of the insecurities I explored with my sisters and their corresponding interventions I designed include; a “belly fat corset” to highlight belly fat, scar piercings to frame a surgical scar, nose jewellery to highlight a “large” nose, a tattoo design to celebrate a neck rash, body art for a larger body and more. The process of creating these things was creative and therapeutic for us, and resulted in us having a more positive outlook on our body parts.

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The images produced are not the takeaway from this project but portray the relationship my sisters and I have with our insecurities. They are dark, abstract, dysmorphic, and even monstrous, whilst still being powerful and bold and utilising the language of beauty and fashion images to portray the insecurity at the forefront, as an empowering feature.