ROUGE

El poder del maquillaje. 

The power of makeup. The cosmetics industry moves an annual business volume of 1,000 million euros in Spain, 75,000 million euros worldwide. And it continues to grow.

A street project that proposes a reflection on the meanings and uses of makeup, which raises questions like: Does makeup enslave us or empower us? Do we put on makeup for ourselves or for others to like us? Seduction? Game? Artifice or necessity? Makeup reaffirms our feeling of belonging to the group... or differentiates us from others.

ROUGE is developed through mini photo sessions taking place in a traveling photocall that represents a bed  (sleeping without removing makeup in an act of rebellion). On a nearby set, participants who wish to do so will be put on makeup and interviewed during this process to learn why they wear makeup and what meaning cosmetics have for them.

The project is completed with a photographic exhibition and a documentary made from the testimonies obtained, along with opinions from historians, stylists and professionals in sociology, psychology or anthropology.

ROUGE invites us to look beyond compact powders and lipstick. 

Photographs: Antonio Portillo, 2023

Makeup artist: Paula Pérez