Behind-the-scenes of a mental health awareness photo shoot

Nail tech and educator, Lisa Graves, shares the story behind a mental health awareness photo shoot…

“The last year was a difficult one for everyone across the globe and, subsequently, awareness of mental health issues was heightened. Whenever I saw advertising or social media posts based around mental health, images used were always very sad. I decided I wanted to create something more positive while maintaining focus on the topic, so created a nail design with golden cracks which symbolise that even if you’re broken, you can still be beautiful. The Japanese use a technique called golden repair or ‘kintsukuroi’, to fix broken items with lacquer mixed with powdered gold.

“I used Nailchemy’s Brandy Snap shade for the nails. Red is the colour of love and I wanted to portray that within the images, that even in a dark and sad image there is always love. I added some gold accents to complement the gold cracks, using Nailchemy Artisan paints on the face of our model, Emilia. The red and gold contrast beautifully. After doing a couple of test shots, I decided to add a matte finish to the nails to make the gold elements stand out.”

“I approached photographer, Paul Ottley, to arrange the shoot and he wanted to create an image where the model was half in dark, half in light to represent the two conflicting sides of mental health; the constant struggle between being in a light and dark place.

“Shadows were used and our model, Emilia, placed her hands over her mouth to represent not being able to talk, with black tape and tears dripping from her eyes. These powerful images will be shared across social media to raise awareness of mental health issues.”

Credits:

• Nails: Lisa Graves
• Photographer: Paul Ottley
• Model: Emilia Evison
• MUA: Laura Whittle