How Prim 'N Poppin' is providing beauty and activism in a conservative America

It's summer of 2019.Donald Trump is president. The Black Lives Matter movement, a movement protesting the killing and violence against Black people in America, is active but has quieted down. We are still seeing the fallout from the #MeToo movement, a public movement against sexual assault. Equal representation in media is a hot topic.

I am a beauty photographer living in bustlingNew York City. I'm about to meet with a makeup artist, Brenna Drury, who DM'd me on Instagram. Immediately, we hit it off. We are both passionate about current issues in society and politics, and we have a lively conversation about our contributions to the culture ofDEI through our work as beauty professionals.

While I generally feel frustrated in my career that I have been unable to push the diversity needle as far as I want to on set, I feel completely empowered to cast and collaborate inclusively and expansively in my personal projects. Brenna and I are in alignment. She's pitching her ideas to me with mood boards, and I see one featuring retro beauty looks. I quickly do a brain scan and pull up an idea for a shoot: recreating vintage beauty advertisements that never came to fruition.

This conversation about the history of exclusivity in beauty advertising sparks the idea for our collaborative projectPrim 'N Poppin', a series where we reimagine vintage beauty advertisements from the 1970s to be inclusive.

The series posits what would society look like today if equal representation existed in beauty advertising 50 years ago?

Julia Comita + Brenna Drury

By September 2019, we've amassed an extensive collection of vintage beauty advertisements from brands like Revlon, Avon, and Maybelline as our inspiration. We're thrilled to have a core female artistic team in addition to models representing various sexual and gender identities, sizes, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Our models share openly with us about the impact of beauty ads during their developmental years. Growing up in different places and with various cultural influences, each one has their own version of what beauty means to them.

Just listening to their stories, Brenna and I understand the gravity of projects like ours as a means of activism. We feel inspired to see what other conversations are sparked through engagement with Prim' n Poppin'.

And, then, 2020 happens.

We have a global pandemic. Racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ inequality rockets into the public eye, and the American people electJoe Biden as president, abruptly cutting Trump's potential second term short. Prim' N Poppin' feels small in the wake of such significant events. Still, when we launch in early 2021, we have the full support of media outlets looking to amplify the message of authentic inclusion. The positive feedback the project receives feels like validation that equal representation for the queer, trans, Asian, Black + Brown, and body-positive communities is just as important as anything we are collectively experiencing as a nation during this tumultuous time. The slow-griding wheels of progress are moving, taking us closer to the loving and inclusive society we long to be a part of.

Fast forward a few years, and instead of gaining strength,DEI is dying. The representation we once saw gracing runways and magazine covers quietly disappears. No fuss, no public outcry. Trans models are struggling to book work. Disabled models are struggling to book work. Curve models are no longer on the catwalk. We've heard from models that their look is no longer trending, meaning their identities are no longer profitable.

Julia Comita + Brenna Drury

Simultaneously, we are watching our countrylean into conservatism, rolling back protections for trans communities, queer communities, and women. Again, making art as an act of revolution may seem trivial. But it's not. It's radical. Change starts not only at the level of big government but also at the individual level. Change begins through the conversations between two people and at the community level, where many individuals come together to support one another and activate new ideas.

So again, Brenna, myself, and our incredible team set out to expand Prim 'N Poppin' to keep a great big spotlight on the public conversation around equality and visibility. This time, the question for our project is different: what happens to society when diversity and representation in beauty become taken for granted?

Withanother Trump term looming, Brenna and I feel it's more urgent than ever to continue discussing inclusion and equality with industry and creatives. Advertising, on the whole, often mirrors culture but also shapes culture. As an industry at the corporate and individual levels, we are not beholden to the immense bureaucracy required to effect change in big government. This means we can quickly and broadly make statements with our work that fly in opposition to the messages the government wants people to consider accurate. We can literally define the standard of beauty and, therefore, have the power to de-otherize communities that are often reduced to the way they present. We can ensure talent and employees from all backgrounds receive fair pay for their work, regardless of gender, race, age, or ability.

We can create our own reality, the truth we want to see in the world, both on and off camera, and hope that one day, it will spread to the level of legislation.

Prim 'n Poppin' continues to be our playful way of engaging in grave subject matter. Art can be used as a powerful tool for activism, creating with it a space for challenging conversations and illuminations, and we hope projects like Prim can continue inspiring change.