RADAR: Cara Persona
I believe it’s safe to say that current reality has been a bit of a roller coaster of life altering twists and turns. Avoiding daily stresses and mundane routines can’t always come in the form of hopping on a plane to anywhere or even leaving the house these days. Not to mention, we spent months getting dressed just to go from the bedroom to the living room. This is where Art comes into play as a true life line of escapism providing a mental vacay through exploring someone else's imagination while stepping outside of your own body metaphorically. It’s the wanderlust of the mind that sustains us when life as we know it feels in peril. Meet Cara Persona! A scroll through her magical self portrait art filled Instagram is exactly what you need to refresh your outlook on reality and propel you towards fantasy and your own thoughts of imaginative self reinvention or defining your authentic self. An alum of Baltimore’s Maryland Institute College of Art, Cara majored in Illustration which she puts to brilliant use in her conceptual style portraits. Her approach critically challenges society’s definition of beauty standards and screams for inclusive representation of every human form. She is without a doubt one to watch, so for this month’s RADAR I grabbed a moment with Cara to get a more exclusive view into her creative process and artistic mind.
1. Describe what it is you do in your own words and how this came to be.
For a while now, I’ve been interested in the “masks” I’ve chosen to wear when presenting myself to others, especially on the internet. How I present myself can be so carefully curated that, in the past, I sometimes ended up feeling like a persona that I deemed worthy of sharing rather than my actual, authentic self. That thought process led me to visually explore, through makeup and face paint and wigs, the idea of different versions of and variations on myself as well as the personification of ideas that would pop into my head. On my instagram, I refer to it as “artstuff + brain characters” which I think covers it pretty well in that I don’t really know what to call it. Sometimes, I’ll create a whole character out of a look, and other times, I’ll have a detail in my mind that I think is interesting and will build upon it or figure out how to showcase it.
2. What inspires you to create the self-portraits that you do and what is your creative process like on a typical day?
Usually, an idea will pop into my head that I think would look cool or interesting, and it leads to me playing around and sketching the ideas out on my face. If I like how it’s looking, I’ll keep going with it (otherwise, I’ll take a photo for future reference, which I’ll usually revisit at some point). I always have a piece of fabric hanging up on the wall with my camera and tripod nearby and ready to use, so it’s really easy to make something and be able to document it right then. I take a bunch of photos and hope for the best! I’m trying to get better at the planning and preparation stages, but I also enjoy the spontaneity of it all, especially since outside of my art making, I’m not a very spontaneous person.
3. You have been active on your platform with support for Black lives and Black creatives providing links and resources for your followers, how has this affected your work and/or how will it affect your perspective moving forward with your art?
One way it’s affected my work is expanding my ideas beyond just myself and my daydreams in my own little bubble. I’ve been thinking more and more about the artistic community and sharing and uplifting those around me when I can. I’ve also had more thoughts this past year about what real change means, and how I can be a part of that, artistically or otherwise. I’m excited to see where these thoughts and ideas lead.
4. You seem to experiment with beauty standards, what is your take on the industry as it is? The industry seems so big and expansive, and I feel like there are so many sub-genres of beauty, it’s hard to keep up with what’s considered “beautiful” and to whom these days. Also, I try to not pay it too much attention because I usually end up feeling bad about something to do with my face and am left with the impression that some product will make me feel better and more beautiful once I fix said thing. I don’t know, whenever I think about the idea of making someone feel bad so they’ll spend money on a beauty product, it just makes me want to go in the other direction. Like, rather than hide the dark circles under my eyes, what if I outlined them with gems and fake pearls and made them extra fancy? It helps me remember that it’s all kind of absurd when you think about it.
5. Has the 'new normal' had any effect on your art or the way you approach what you do?
Not really! I feel pretty lucky because I’m already a homebody and do everything on my own when it comes to my art.
6. If you had to define yourself with three adjectives what would they be?
Observant, imaginative, and antsy.
7. If you could change the current art/fashion culture what would you do?
This goes back to my thoughts on the beauty industry and advertising. I’d love to see more people and all the different ways they can look and exist. I see it some already, and I get so excited to think of a world where no one feels that they’re not represented or celebrated, and everyone can see that there are so many ways to be. Less marketing that plays on people’s insecurities.
8. What is your superpower?
My imagination / ability to think something into existence, in a way!
9. Social Media:
Instagram: @cara__persona
Twitter: @cara_persona
Article by Ayoka Lucas, Contributing Fashion Editor, PhotoBook Magazine
Instagram: @ayokalu
Tearsheet Custom Designed by Wei Liu, Graphic Designer, PhotoBook Magazine
