Evaluating beauty as a commodity featuring Lucid's artwork : "The material girl" - Evolution of the Atlantic slave trade.
Hi, today I'm evaluating beauty as a commodity featuring Lucid's artwork : "The material girl"
“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. “
Well, we seem to have forgotten the lights in our hearts and we're in search of this same light in stores and brands and social media filters. Lucid actually illustrated this upside down search for our own beauty in the wrong places in his painting “The material girl ( beauty is now sold as a commodity)” . The lady in this painting is on a vogue cover, a cute Gucci bag, red lipstick, jewelries on her wrist.
Right under all of the glam is a pop up asking us to start an auction. According to Google: An auction is a public sale where goods, property, or services are sold to the highest bidder through a competitive bidding process. This makes one ask is she for sale? Why is she for sale? To the left side of this painting is a hand holding a telephone awaiting a call for bids.
Yunno, in the 1500s to 1800 during the Atlantic slave trade something like this really did happen. Enslaved Africans were publicly inspected and sold in markets across America and Europe. Young women considered attractive were sold for a higher price. Their skin, teeth, face and body shape were thoroughly checked before they were finally sold off. Well sad, but shockingly in this 21st century the slavery has evolved. There's no tyrant forcing us to look a certain way but we ourselves have subjected our perception of beauty to a mere commodity that we spend most of our lifetime vainly chasing that we lose our sense of self-worth, purpose and even lives. BBL is considered the deadliest cosmetic surgery yet millions still subject themselves under the knife. The global beauty market is worth roughly $335 billion - $450 billion per year. We spend so much to look good that we now have glamorously dressed bodies but ragged souls. It's actually okay to look good but deciding if you're beautiful or not should not be tied to what you wear or how expensive your wardrobe and skincare is.
In Lucid's painting the way beauty is now modified is well portrayed, there's a colour palette for aesthetics.
You can edit how you look, reshape and pick a new skin tone. Sadly, the most ignored truth is that the beauty industry is making profit off our insecurities. They make us feel better and we give them money as simple as that.
Beauty is sold to us and we buy beauty . (ب_ب)
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