Visual artist and graphic designer Sabrina Tirvengadum is behind the immersive, multi-sensory experience, and the exhibition is titled Beauty Fall. It is currently on display at the SPACE Ilford Gallery.
Described as a “satirical” beauty salon by organisers, Beauty Fall confronts Western-influenced standards of beauty and their effect on identity and self-worth.
The artist explores how these ideals are constructed and perpetuated through storytelling and personal reflection.
The installation features a tongue-in-cheek beauty magazine, an interactive AI beauty booth analysis, and a series of AI-generated lenticular adverts.
Ms Tirvengadum worked with archival family photographs to examine how colonial records shaped and often erased the identities of those they documented.
The exhibition includes 3D-printed beauty masks of the artist’s grandparents, serving as witnesses to ancestors and communities deliberately excluded. Many of the works invite visitors to directly engage with their own image.
Organisers said: “The exhibition reveals aspects of beauty culture that are typically concealed. Advertisements are presented with their underlying messages exposed, and beauty products are labelled to expose their true impact.
“Central to the exhibition is a series of works that encourage visitors to confront their own reflections.”
For one piece, the artist worked with a real-life “glow up service” to generate an “ideal” version of herself.
This image was used to produce AI-generated adverts displayed using lenticular prints, which, when viewed from different angles, reveal messages such as “Whiten Your Skin,” “Conform,” and “Erase Who You Are.”
These messages expose the colonial roots and enduring impact of contemporary beauty marketing, the exhibition is open to the public until October.
Ms Tirvengadum holds a BA in photographic arts from the University of Westminster and has previously exhibited work at Autograph and the Attenborough Arts Centre.