The Wick List

Viewing The Cult of Beauty at the Wellcome Collection

The Wick Culture - 12 Reasons You’re Tired All The Time, Juno Calypso, 2013, courtesy the artist and TJ Boulting. Image: Courtesy of Wellcome Collection

Above 12 Reasons You’re Tired All The Time, Juno Calypso, 2013, courtesy the artist and TJ Boulting. Image: Courtesy of Wellcome Collection

The Wick Culture - The Disobedient Nose: Fig. 1. The reconstruction of a nose 2022, Shirin Fathi, 2022 © Shirin Fathi. Image credit: Courtesy of Wellcome Collection

Above The Disobedient Nose: Fig. 1. The reconstruction of a nose 2022, Shirin Fathi, 2022 © Shirin Fathi. Image credit: Courtesy of Wellcome Collection

Above 12 Reasons You’re Tired All The Time, Juno Calypso, 2013, courtesy the artist and TJ Boulting. Image: Courtesy of Wellcome Collection

Above The Disobedient Nose: Fig. 1. The reconstruction of a nose 2022, Shirin Fathi, 2022 © Shirin Fathi. Image credit: Courtesy of Wellcome Collection

The Cult of Beauty at the Wellcome Collection
Euston Road, London

26 October 2023 to 28 April 2024

Beauty is a slippery idea, something that philosophers, mathematicians, scientists and the rest of us have spent centuries obsessing over and trying to define. The Cult of Beauty at the Wellcome Collection shows how it is not – as the saying goes – in the eye of the bolder. In fact, the objects and artworks in this thought-provoking exhibition reveal how standards of beauty have been set by dominant groups within the rigid boundaries of status, wealth, race, age and gender, among others.

The show will make you question beauty norms and consider more inclusive definitions. Along the way you’ll discover some surprises, like, did you know that beauty spots are thought to have evolved from ‘mouches’ worn by men and women to hide syphilis scars? The height of fashion, apparently.

Some of the intriguing contemporary artworks include The Disobedient Nose, in which Shirin Fathi explores the pressures Iranian women face to undergo cosmetic surgery, and Xcessive Aesthetics’ experiential installation, which shows the opportunities nightclub bathrooms can offer as spaces for experimentation and community building. Next time you hit the town, perhaps you’ll look at your own perfectly imperfect face in the mirror anew.