I had wanted to explore the strange adage “beauty is pain” for some time. When my friend (and genius photographer) Sian Fay mentioned she was keen to play with mirrors, I knew we were likely to end up somewhere a bit uncomfortable.

I wanted to create a series that looked, in close up, at the products that we (women in particular) are pushed by capitalism/the patriarchy, with the promise they will make us more desirable (read: more lovable). The very products that appear sugar-sweet on the surface (so much saccharine pink!) but on closer examination, bear a remarkable resemblance to instruments of torture.