Collection of geometric watercolour paintings explores the concept of beauty

She explains the concept behind her latest collection of watercolours: "I am a young, middle-class woman, in modern western society. This fact alone has left me submerged in societal influences of impossible appearance standards and numb to the bombardment of advertising featuring nameless faces- the generic “beauty”.

"When I was a young girl, out of instinct, I drew the nameless faces. Large eyes, small nose, full lips. My vehicle of self expression was to mimic the standardised, ideally beautiful face that I recognised to be “good”. I noticed and I watched as my peers and society responded to pretty: people liked pretty.

"However, as my perceptions of identity deepen with age and life experience, I have found discord from my earlier revelation of “truth.” Is the idealised “pretty” face, label, mask, actually the pinnacle of goodness? Is there power in the invulnerability of the blank expression? Through the process of stripping the figure of all unique characteristics (race, age, gender) what is left is the blank template of the face, a formula of agreeable “beauty.”

"The most communicative characteristics of the work are the eyes of the figures, and while clearly looking at the viewer, leave them with little inclination they are ever being seen. These templates of idyllic humans call to the viewer for personality assignments; they contain what is placed upon them. This has led the viewer to question who "she" is, and why she has been so predominately displayed."

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Via direct submission | All images courtesy of Jaye Whitehead