The Skull Decides Half of Your Face

Lisa Bailey spent years building faces from bone for the FBI, so that someone who had loved that person might recognise them. Forensic art is the one place where appearance […]

The Best Result Is the One Nobody Can See

Niamh Davis tattoos skin in Arizona so that something stops being visible. Almost everything else done with a needle and pigment is meant to be noticed. Her work runs the […]

A Hat Changes the Look in Your Eyes

Ane de Cocó makes hats by hand in Spain, to measure, for people who mostly arrive convinced that hats do not suit them. She works in a craft that used […]

Attraction or Perfect Beauty? What Actually Wins?

Modern culture suggests attractiveness is mainly about flawless beauty, perfect symmetry, expensive fashion, and current trends. But look at iconic film characters and something strange appears. Many are shown covered […]

A Week on the Corner of a Mouth

Deirdre Nicholls sculpts people from life and paints landscapes in watercolour, and the two disciplines contradict each other on purpose. A watercolour has to be caught before the rain comes. […]

One Millimetre and It Is No Longer You

Monie Szabó paints portraits in oil and graphite in Gothenburg, mostly in black and white, and she also photographs the people she paints. She runs her own gallery, teaches, and […]

Why Personality Alone Is Not Always Enough

Many of us were raised to believe appearance should not matter much. Society tends to emphasize personality, intelligence, depth, and character instead, and of course those things matter enormously. But […]

Who Are We Trusting With Our Faces?

There is a paradox around the industries connected to appearance. Aesthetic medicine, fitness, cosmetic dentistry, and beauty are naturally tied to aesthetics, yet much of the content they produce feels […]