From caves to shelves: on pigments, makeup and filters

Abstract

In the same way that facial recognition is an ancestral capacity of the human intellect that guarantees our belonging to a certain group and, therefore, our own survival (SACKS 1997, 2010; LEONE, 2016; 2018), in addition to our emotional bond (CYRULNIK, 1995) there is also evidence that the early hominids voluntarily modified their appearances, disguising, camouflaging or creating other versions of themselves capable of addressing the gods, their contemporaries and nature. The manipulation of the face, despite being an archetypal practice, concerns changes in the historically constituted media (BELTING, 2015). Regarding media, not only is the face (is) the most reproduced and consumed image nowadays — the face is ubiquitously in the mass media —, but it is itself a media (BELTING, 2007). This paper discusses the temporary facial changes — such as makeup and application filters. In addition, we will approach how even dealing with a disenchanted activity, there are still traces of a mystical, magical and ritualistic past in makeup and in the act of putting makeup on — traces that appear, for example, in the discourse of cosmetics advertising.

Keywords
make-up; filters; facial recognition; face; media; cosmetics advertising