The Lipstick Portraits by Michael Angelo

In The Lipstick Portraits, red lipstick is used to mark the subjects as free, independent, beautiful people whose lives exemplify the virtuous side of true beauty: creative self-expression, personal agency, courage, inspiration, strength, generosity, determination, action, leadership, selflessness in service, joy, love. These individuals have marked themselves with red lipstick to stand in solidarity with the women and girls sold into sexual slavery who have been branded with red lipstick against their wills, for whom red lipstick is a sign of unfreedom, servitude, and social stigma—of all that is ugly, though their oppressors try to cover it with the hideous red smear of a product designed for beauty.

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