It seems like make-up as an artform has been having a huge revival; sweeping across our screens, and expanding across various brands and products. There are influencers who can perform a master class in applying eye-liner, or guide viewers to the very best way to applying foundation (some say a wet sponge, others swear by fingers or brushes) – but this realm of make-up & beauty is more about enhancing ones face, rather than totally transforming it. Make-up seems like it is having a revival; this is true, yes, as through our interconnectedness through social media; we are more exposed to each other’s pursuits. Yet, drag culture has always existed; from Ancient Greece, through to mediaeval theatre, and where it stands today as a tour de force of self-expression. This is where Keanan Justin, an emerging make-up artist based in Cape Town, has found his sanctuary; and it is through drag culture that many of the lessons, inspirations and iconography of the make-up & beauty world originates from.
“I studied fashion originally, and I really started getting into make-up during COVID lockdown. I had always played with brows and found a good lip technique, but watching Drag Race truly showed me a new world. I loved what all the queens were doing, and I wanted to look like that – but I also wanted to find my own way of expressing myself, so I started to figure out what I could come up with.” Keanan says in our conversation. On arriving at our interview, I was blown away by Keanan – with a completed white face, bright red lips & angular strokes of black flames across his eyes, I quickly realised that I was in the presence of brilliance. With Drag Race, Keanan found a new strata to ascend to – and it can be understood that seeing icons can allow one to grant oneself that permission: the permission to abandon needing permission or validity from anyone, or society. Drag and the kind of make-up performance that Keanan expresses requires courage in a world where conservative and binary models still tend to dominate. Without intending to perhaps, Keanan’s looks are the face of freedom.
Featured Look by Keanan Justin September
“I’m self-taught, so everything I know is from either trial and error on my own, or Youtube. In between exploring make-up, I was working fulltime – as we all must – so it’s been a process of trying to hone my ideas when I find the time. Very recently, I have felt a head-on surge that this is what I’m meant to be doing. This is my path. The goal is to have my own brand one day, that caters beyond just standard beauty products; I would love to produce a local brand that thinks of the Queens first, that puts the art of make-up at the forefront” Keanan says, and in terms of inspiration, “I mainly reference music, actually. I don’t like looking at other artists, anymore, because then it seems like I’m doing what they were feeling. I want to do what I am feeling. I think people might not realise that this kind of make-up is such a heart-centred practice; you have to be so in tune with who you are, and who you’d like to be or express in any given moment.”
Featured Looks by Keanan Justin September
Recently, Keanan hasn’t been planning his looks; rather, he is in a process of free-form application, in which he approaches his prepped face with curiosity and presence – saying, “I let my hands do what they want. There have been a lot of mistakes, but 80% of the time, I’m happy with the outcome. Right now, 2023, the goal is to get out there and work on shoots, or shadowing make-up artists. So I have space right now to be completely experimental.” In asking Keanan what make-up means on a personal level, he says “make-up is about transformation, to me. I can be going through the worst day, or worst experiences, but once I pick up that brush and get to work; I am going into a different world. My make-up is other-worldly and extra-terrestrial, and it gives me an opportunity to explore so many dimensions of who I am. I always thought I’d get into beauty so that I could fit in – – so that I could be fashionable. One day, I woke up to the fact that it had to be about me, so drag make-up is a love letter to myself.”
Written by: Holly Beaton
Published: 2 February 2023
