Irving Penn gives out his messages mostly in a unique way considering his Cholesterol’s Revenge. His style hits you without having to know much about him or the story behind the shoot. In his Mascara Wars, the same astounding shock captures you at once.
Could one picture say that much and yet leave one speechless? This is what I find in his unique representation of strength and persistence in agony. The red veins visible in the eye in this shot inevitably drags you into the same pain the subject mus be feeling. A sense of empathy finds its human space immediately. Then the ridicule of mascara being painted on the eyelashes, eyes wide open and ready to be “fixed”. Yet, how much can one fix one’s feelings, once broken, once as dull as death, as voiceless as silence?
Mascara Wars triggers endless thoughts in my mind sweeping me through a series of hurdles in women’s life and how much strength they have to bring together to fight AGAINST their nature, how much they have to forget about ’emotions’ a basic ingredient in feminine existence and act on…
Garden of Eve 