Living for the Neck Up
This project, which ran from January 1st, 2010, until December 31st 2010 was a process piece in which I logged the exact time it took me to apply my makeup and style my hair each day. “Living for the Neck Up” is a derogatory concept aimed at fat woman, who often times find they cannot deal with the pressures of hegemonic society to confirm to the beauty ideals placed upon their bodies, so they attempt to go above and beyond the beauty ideals for their face and hair. Similar to mask wearing, many overweight women become very adapt at styling hair, applying makeup, and “living for the neck up”. As a fat woman interested in this process, I committed myself to log the time I spent on this process, this beauty ritual. I soon realized that this was a ritual most all women, regardless of size, could relate to. The total time spent over the course of the year totaled to:
3 weeks, 6 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes. Nearly an entire month of my year was spent on this process. Please check back for a time lapse animation of all the still images.
To see the full set on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157623220441739/