Production stills: Roni Mocán
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
New York, 2005
Single-channel digital video
57 minutes 37 seconds
Color, Silent
Video close-up of my eyes in a static single shot, in which I apply black mascara continuously for one hour.
In the name of beauty most women will put on makeup, do their hair, nails, depilate, diet, fix their noses and breasts. Although few women will reach society’s beauty ideals, they will sculpt their bodies as needed. In this video I play along with women’s beauty rituals, performing them in exaggerated ways to reflect the pressures imposed by today’s society. The camera focuses on the part of the body where the action takes place: With repetitive gestures I apply mascara continuously for one hour, questioning our attraction to makeup and its power of seduction.
Its title was inspired by the Red Riding Hood tale.
Installation views:
AIM 26, Bronx Museum, New York, 2006
Related artworks:
“Para
besarte mejor” (“The Better to Kiss You With”)
“Para
acariciarte mejor” (“The Better to Caress You With”)
“Retorno
a la pubertad” (“Return to Puberty”)
Related press:
Genocchio, Benjamin. “For Hopeful Artists, the Search to Be Just Themselves.” The New York Times, 2006
Martínez, Neyda Luz. “Beauty is Truth”, New York Post/Tempo, 2006 (Interview)
The New York Sun, On the Town, June 13, 2006