Make-up artist defends ‘transformation’ after blackface accusations
A MAKE-UP artist at the centre of an online blackface controversy has refused to apologise for his “transformation” a white woman into a black woman.
A MAKE-UP artist at the centre of an online blackface controversy has refused to apologise for his decision to share an image of a white woman “transformed” into a black woman.
The furore began earlier this week when the offending image was posted on the Instagram account @paintdatface.
The anonymous account appears to be operated by a male Los Angeles based make-up artist as a platform to showcase his handiwork, and frequently features before-and-after images showing impressive make-up transformations.
Usually well-received by the account’s 60,000 plus followers, one such transformation caused uproar not only on Instagram, but elsewhere on social media and around the world.
The image of a blue-eyed, blonde woman with fair skin, posted alongside an “after” image, apparently showing the same girl with dark skin, brows and eyes and a scarf on her head, was accompanied with a disclaimer.
“I want to clearly express the sincere place I am coming from with this transformation,” the account’s owner wrote. “This is a transformation that I’ve been holding back from releasing for awhile now, solely because of the fear I’ve had of people turning it into a racial scandal against me.”
Anticipating backlash, the artist defended his work, writing: “THIS IS NOT ABOUT A RACE CHANGE”.
“This is about one woman acknowledging, embracing and celebrating the beauty of another women’s culture,” he wrote. “I didn’t want this to become another reason to stir up negativity. This is, by far, the proudest I’ve ever been of my work.”
The artist had clearly expected to stir some controversy over being more than a little heavy-handed with the bronzer on his model, but what followed was worse than he had anticipated.
After Twitter and Facebook users got hold of the post, and the man behind it was widely accused of proudly showcasing an offensive example of blackface, the image was swiftly removed.
In an update on Instagram — in which he reposted the original image and caption — he shared a self-portrait which appears to show the artist smeared with make-up reflecting a number of different skin tones and a smear of red lipstick.
In the caption, the make-up artist explained why he removed the post and responded to the backlash, but refused to apologise.
“I deleted the post, not because I had regret or saw wrongdoing, but because of the negativity social media turned it into,” he explained.
“It’s been assumed by most that my intentions were to transform my model into a black woman. Truth is, my intentions were to keep the look vague enough to be relatable to many women of different cultures.”
The @paintdatface operator said he was “saddened by how many people are angered” but “can’t offer an apology for my artwork and for what I find to be beautiful”.
The artist insisted the “transformation” came from a place of love and “was not about mocking one’s race, but rather about celebrating it”.
According to the comments, the latest post was about as well received as the first.
“This is black face but with a dash of glam,” one commenter wrote.
“You don’t understand the history behind black face or care to learn so you think it’s OK but in all reality you are ignorant,” another said.
Other commenters, including a large contingent of black women, have defended @paintdatface, and praised his “beautiful” work.