MIRROR IMAGE
ONES ALTER EGO OR HIGHER SELF
FACES AND FEATURES
The Brain recognises a montage of features as a face. The face is not just an object, but is something that we are born to perceive uniquely. Children's drawings of people pitch enormous heads on stick bodies- but they reflect accurately the true significance of the face, for features do seem to be central to our understanding of our identity. (Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.8)
The face is such an intimate part of our lives that understanding its origins, how it works and what it means, is a way towards defining who we are. And those features are unique and every person. Each of the 6 billion individuals on earth have different identity tags- tags being faces.
The face you see in the mirror had its beginnings in the primaeval slime at the bottom of the sea.
Although we take our faces for granted, they are relatively recent invention. The most of the planet's history, creatures have been faceless. The evolution of the face is basically the story of the mouth- from a small hole in the end of the floating organism, all the way to a jaw structure with teeth can chew.
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.24)
The face develops rapidly- faster than any other part of the body. As for weeks after conception, the embryo weighs 1g (0.035 ounces) and is only about 6mm (0.25 inches) long. However, it is already beginning to reflect the stages of millions of years of evolution that have led to the present human form.
The embryo resembles a fish or reptile embryo. It has the beginnings of a mouth and dark spots where its eyes will be. And at five weeks, near the head there are six cartilages on either side, symmetrically arranged and with appropriate muscles and blood vessels from the gill slits of the fish. But then the embryo moves to later stages of our evolution.
Around headship develops. The eyes, which start off on the side of the head, with the nostrils widely separated, gradually move around and forwards to cluster on the front of the head. By three months the baby has fully developed a tiny face and can swallow, frown and suck its thumb.
At first the baby boy's head is bigger than his sisters. As they progress in adult the female skull grows too, on average, only two thirds the size of the males. There are other structural differences to, the male head has bigger riches of born on the jaw and Brown. He also has a larger, longer and wider nose.
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.26)
DEVELOPMENT
Images: Bates, B., Cleese, J. and Staff, D. K. P. (2001) The Human Face. United States: Dorling Kindersley P.P. 16, 17
Right image: Bates, B., Cleese, J. and Staff, D. K. P. (2001) The Human Face. United States: Dorling Kindersley P.26
Women have more fat on their cheeks, giving a plumper, softer outline. High cheekbones are a myth- it is nothing to do with the bones, but rather the way the fat is distributed under the skin.
Greta Garbo famously had teeth removed so that her cheeks would recede, making her ‘cheekbones’ look higher.
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.46)
Above image: Bates, B., Cleese, J. and Staff, D. K. P. (2001) The Human Face. United States: Dorling Kindersley P.46
Below images: Bates, B., Cleese, J. and Staff, D. K. P. (2001) The Human Face. United States: Dorling Kindersley P.45
The evolutionary process whereby melanin was lost from the skin also caused the eyes to become paler.
Blue eyes are the rarest colour, because they gene that determines them is recessive and easily overruled by the genes from brown or green eyes. Blue eyes are widely admired, and this may be because there light colour me the size of the pupil very clear. If the pupil enlarges in response to desire or fear, it is more obvious in light-eyed people.
The process of evolution that led to different nose shapes was attributed by 19th-century travellers to fashion. European people speculated that Oriental mothers left their children on their front to compress their noses, all for the sake of beauty. And Tahitians, observing the longer noses of English children, lamented the supposed habit of English mothers pulling their noses to make them long! Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.P.30,35
Eyes
Contrary to popular belief, the different colours of eyes are not caused by different colourants in iris. Again it is all down to the amount of the brown colour, melanin. Generally people who have little melanin in their skin also have little in their eyes, causing them to appear blue. More melanin you have in your iris, the darker your eyes will look.
Our eyelid is composed of skin only 1 mm thick it is slightly translucent, so that light can pass through it. We close eyelids to blink, an action that stems from our aquatic origins hundreds of millions of years ago. When we lived order our eyes were kept moist, but in air we need to protect our eyes from drying out. Each blink covers the eyeball with mildly antiseptic tears that reduce the risk of infection to the eye. These tears also carry oxygen to the cornea of the eye.
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.P. 29, 30)
Nose Lips
the shape of our noses seem to have evolved in response to environmental factors. Because the lungs need air at about 35°C, or roughly equivalent to our body temperature, and at 95% humidity, our noses have to do the work of translating. And in different environments this can be a different job.
-In desert areas the area is already heated, but not moist enough. Noses in these areas tend to be large and narrow, so that air travelling up the nose has plenty of time to absorb moisture from the mucous membranes.
-In northern Europe the air is more humid, but colder. Long narrow noses restrict airflow and give air time to warm up before reaching the lungs. In more humid environments a short wide noses is common to many African and Asian people, they are more efficient- air arrives at the lungs more quickly.
The lips are the most visible feature of the mouth. They have a darker, more pink colour than our skin because they are so thin that the blood beneath the surface is visible. Our lips are extremely sensitive, and can detect a single hair in our food, as well as enable us to enjoy a kiss
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.35)
Above image: Bates, B., Cleese, J. and Staff, D. K. P. (2001) The Human Face. United States: Dorling Kindersley P.55
FINDING FACES
FOCUS: FOUND FACES
This book focuses on the fascination with what is often in front of your eyes, faces, in unexpected places. The photographers throughout explain they did not find the faces in inanimate objects, instead, the faces found them. It is apart of our nature to subconsciously look for and recognize human faces and we are conditioned to perpetually seek out faces in our surroundings.
Faces communicate our emotions without the need for gestures and language; they are also at the forefront for delivering and interpreting information. They conceal and reveal the subjects intentional and subconscious self. The unexpected nature of finding a face in the surrounding world can be therapeutic and almost comforting, and people are often fascinated by their findings.
Left image: Crafts, L. (2011) Focus: found faces: your world, your images. New York: Lark Books,U.S. P.7
NOTES FROM BOOK:
In the clouds, the bark of a tree, a winking parking meter: faces seem to be everywhere, emerging from every day items, natural environments, and chance compositions. Focus-Found Faces encounters familiar features in unexpected places. The photographs are from vibrant online image-sharing communities and the book features 245 found faces from photographers in over 25 countries.
Above mages: Crafts, L. (2011) Focus: found faces: your world, your images. New York: Lark Books,U.S. P.P. 244 and 36
Changing your lip shape with a lip brush and pencil can subtly or dramatically alter the look of your lips and face. Following your natural lip shape is only one option. The development in altering lip shape has allowed the subject to freedomly change the perimeters of the mouth. Remember, all of your facial features become malleable with makeup. However, it is up to you to decide when, where, how and if you want to alter them. (Aucoin, 2001, P.25)
The entire concept of cosmetic adornment originated as a way to define and enhance facial features and skin colouring. Even though there are as many variations to the human face as there are people, the basic structure is something that we all share. The face is made up of areas that petrude and recede: The apples and the hollows of the cheeks, the tip of the chin, the slight indentation of the temples, and so on. (Aucoin, 2001, P.17)
Below: Aucoin, K. (2001) Face Forward. United States: Little, Brown and Company. P.1
Left image: Aucoin, K. (2001) Face Forward. United States: Little, Brown and Company. P.17
"Yes, your face is saying something," says Jean Haner, an expert in face reading and author of The Wisdom of Your Face. "You're born with the features you have for a reason. The face is a map of your personality as well as your whole life." In her book, Jean Haner lays out what your facial features communicate about you, based on her studies in 3,000-year-old face reading derived from Chinese medicine.
Cardellino, C. (2013) What Your Facial Features Are Saying About You-Facial Features. [online]. Available from: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/advice/g3341/what-your-facial-features-are-saying/ [Accessed: 12 April 2015]
Left image: Aucoin, K. (2001) Face Forward. United States: Little, Brown and Company. P.25
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The fashion industry is unanimous, sarah ducas is the head of the storm model agency. She believes that the idea of beauty is fast flowing and constantly changing
The face- magazine: You cannot have a weak jaw and wide eyes is a good quality.
Baby's are seen to be attractive- plump cheeks, rosebud lips and large eyes. Helpless nurture me look, good looking babys often stay good looking.
THE HUMAN FACE. Episode 3. (2001). BBC. 7 March. [Television]
THE HUMAN FACE
Universal Factors:
Youth and health for mating behaviour- clear smooth skin and full lips. Lips get thinner with age and a full lip is seen as youthful, healthy and beautiful- Dr. David Buss
Youthful features advertise sex and sex sells product. Model is beautiful because of her mix of adult and baby features: babys chin and cupids bow, her high cheekbones, nose and flawless skin is beautiful in an adult sense
Psychologists argue that when you get aroused your lips become larger, darker and fuller.
THE HUMAN FACE. Episode 3. (2001). BBC. 7 March. [Television]
There is beauty and significance in every face. In crowds on streets, in buses and trains and aeroplanes, everywhere, in fact, we see many unremarkable faces. Yet, if we look closely enough, each individual face is compelling. Even when a face is anonymous or vacant, it can engage us. (Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.21)
The face has a strong social, cultural and personal role, is common to all people throughout time, and is therefore extremely engaging. The face is our interface with the world and it is upon the face that our first impressions of other people depend.
We describe a face immediately as sad, radiant, bored, even when we are unable to give any other description of the features. Grief, one would like to say, is personified in the face. This is essential to what we call ‘Emotion’ (Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.62)
There are multitudes of people, but many more faces, because each person has several of them.
There are people who wear the same face for years, naturally it wears out, splits at the seams. They never change it, never even have it cleaned.
Of course, since they have several faces, you might wonder what they do with the other ones, they keep them in storage, their kids, and sometimes their dogs go out wearing them. and why not? A face is a face.
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.10)
STRUCTURE IMPORTANCE
Text and images: Kemp, S., Bruce, V. and Linney, A. (2004) Future Face: The Human Face and How We See it. LONDON: Profile Books Ltd. P.5
Text and images: Kemp, S., Bruce, V. and Linney, A. (2004) Future Face: The Human Face and How We See it. LONDON: Profile Books Ltd. P.5
Other people change faces incredibly fast, put on one after another, and wear them out. At first, they think they have an unlimited supply, but when they are barely forty years old they come to their last one.
There is, something tragic about this. They are not accustomed to taking care of faces, their last one is worn through in a week, has holes in it, and then, little by little, the lining shows through, the non-face, and they walk around with that.
Raina Maria Rilke, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge'
In 1877, New York surgeon, John Roe, perfected a new technique for restructuring the nose without obvious scarring.
In the early twentieth century, the German surgeon, Jaques Joseph became one of the most influential plastic surgeons. His comprehensive handbook of aesthetic surgery of 1931 provided the basic outline for many of the procedures that were to form the basis of modern aesthetic surgery.
(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.86)
CHANGING FACE
Images: Kemp, S., Bruce, V. and Linney, A. (2004) Future Face: The Human Face and How We See it. LONDON: Profile Books Ltd. P.90
It is a developing trend for people to copy celebrity features through cosmetic surgeries and in 1998 two well-known American cosmetic surgeons, Dr Richard Fleming and Dr Toby Mayer, started compiling a list of most requested celebrity body parts by their patients. The image to the right is a result of their findings:
"These days we can have almost any face we like, whenever we want, provided that we can afford it". Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.91
It is fascinating that those who undergo emulation surgery are attempting to copy screen faces which have themselves already been augmented that a number of different levels (for example, digital enhancement or cosmetic enhancement).
Klanten, R., Schulze, F. and Ehmann, S. (2011) Doppelganger: Images of the Human Being. Edited by Robert Klanten, S. Ehmann, and Franz Schulze. Germany: Die Gestalten Verlag. P.88
The artist Keith Cottingham uses anatomical drawings, wax and clay sculptures and digital montages to hybridize and Improve himself, He explains:
Below right: Kemp, S., Bruce, V. and Linney, A. (2004) Future Face: The Human Face and How We See it. LONDON: Profile Books Ltd. P.104
We can study our face and to some extent at least, give it the appearance which we would like to be seen. We all have two different halfes to our face.
Experiments have proved that the left half is more readily recognized by others than ourselves. The left side carries the underlying wishes of our being, that is, our 'wish face', as the depth-psychologist Werner Wolff called it, the face of our unconscious, while the right side is our real face. (Sorell, 1974. P.13)
Left image and above image: Sorell, W. (1974) The other face: the mask in the arts. New York: Thames and Hudson
We are surrounded by famous faces, performers and actors are obsessed with wanting to be a bigger star than they are. The people in advertising first realised faces where the most important selling tool, faces are what are first drawn when we pick up a pen. Our obsession with famous faces began 40000 years ago during our remote history.
You have to have someone to look up to and to enjoy looking up to, as your trube became larger it was possible for one face to have an influence over everyone- on money.
Rick edwards is an ex Chippendale, working as the scottish whisky ambassador. His nickname was hollywood, names are filed in an office with marley finn. In faces you see the mischievous eyes, the cheek dimples or any distinctive feature
Charley chaplin was the first famous face on screen- there was no where on earth who didnt know him. The media has changed the concept of fame, they need something on their cover that draws the reader in. 'The fuel is the face'
Meeting with the casting directors:
Subject one: Squinty eyes, a hawk like nose, ill proportioned face, a closed face and he could only play character roles. Subject two: More beautifully proportioned, wide jaw, an openness about his face. Piercing eyes, warm smile and would be used the most of all three men.
"Fame has been totally amplified and detached from a reality"
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It would be a mistake, however, to assume that vanity and technical limitations alone drove the art of retouching to greater heights. There was (and is) a fundamental difference between looking directly at a persons face and looking at his or her face in a photograph.
"We seldom allow ourselves to scrutinise other faces in the flesh but we can, and do, scrutinise faces in photographs, confident that the subject is not ‘seeing’ us back". Ewing and Herschdorfer, 2006. P.21
THE HUMAN FACE. Episode 4. (2001). BBC. 25 March. [Television]
Images: Ewing, W. A. and Herschdorfer, N. (2006) Face: the new photographic portrait. United Kingdom: London : Thames & Hudson, c2006. P.121
In order to construct new and convincing faces, some artists use composite techniques whereby features are imprinted one upon the other. Above, artist Jason Salavon prefers to erase traits, mocking our pretensions of individuality.
Faces are also stolen from us. Facial recognition systems are increasingly powerful and efficient, and each of our faces has certainly been recorded and stored many times without our knowing it.
Willingly and unwillingly, human beings manage to ‘lose face’ in many ways- far too many to enumerate. At the petty end of the spectrum, we loose face in embarrassing situations.
Ewing and Herschdorfer, 2006. P.119
“Primate facial displays are evolutionarily designed devices to elicit a response from the receiver.”
Signe Preuschoft, 2000. (Ewing and Herschdorfer, 2006. P.190)
Above: Ewing, W. A. and Herschdorfer, N. (2006) Face: the new photographic portrait. United Kingdom: London : Thames & Hudson, c2006. P.138