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Video
Makeup As Devotion
Makeup as Devotion explores a range of traditional, new and often surprising practices of using makeup in preparation for and as part of worship. From the Prophet Muhammed's use of Kohl eyeliner to the rouged cheeks and facial tattooing of Berber women in Morrocco to Kosovo's "living doll" brides; their faces painted white then tessellated with blue dyes and sequins to ward off bad luck. Makeup As Devotion narrates the journey from the animistic trances of Paleolithic Man, via Cleopatra's blue eye makeup, to modern day rites of birth, adulthood and marriage.
Telling the story of what allies one religion with another, it is evident that makeup and adornment are common threads running throughout human history and they relate to a lost moment in which art and spirituality were inseparable.