BURST 
(2024)
digital video
0:40 min

A looping short-form video that parodies influencer beauty content, using found audio from a viral makeup review, a heavily filtered feminine character applies a used tampon as lipstick and blush, critiquing idealized feminine beauty in online spaces.

​

BURST mimics the visual and structural language of TikTok and Instagram Reels, drawing on the hyper-polished world of beauty influencers. The work uses found audio from a viral makeup review as the script for a heavily filtered performance, in which Carlton embodies an exaggeratedly feminine character. In place of the featured product, a blood soaked tampon is used to apply "makeup" to her lips and cheeks, simultaneously mimicking beauty influencer videos. This work collapses the boundaries between allure and repulsion, highlighting the tension between idealized feminine beauty and the taboos and sanitization forced upon the female body in contemporary culture.