Jewel Yang experienced a sacred moment while painting a friend’s pregnant stomach. Unlike her usual work, doing make-up for Yueqi Qi and Oscar Ouyang runway shows or Dazed cover shoots, Yang felt the tension: “Her belly was hard, resistant and elastic, making it very easy to paint,” the 28-year-old make-up artist and Dazed 100 alumni says. “I tried to be very careful with my brush strokes.” A shy, sleeping angel was etched onto the smoothly domed belly, divine iconography unfurling with new life on a human body. 

Religious symbols, and the weight that they carry, had been tugging at Yang’s interest for a while. “I once had someone unfollow me because I wore a skirt with different religious symbols printed on it,” she shares. “As I realised how powerfully a simple shape could trigger people, I started to create more and more religious make-up. After some of [it] went viral in 2023, I decided finally in 2025 to make a book about it.” 

Taking on a name conceived together with book designer Elsa Mueller, Genesis Vanishing brings together Yang’s make-up work in which the female body becomes a living canvas for sacred imagery. Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom, biblical seraphim and the Christian fish symbol are softly brushed across the faces and bodies of trans artists, pop singers, tattoo artists and performers, many of whom are Yang’s friends. Each of them, she says, “bring a different presence and narrative into the work.” 

Here, the make-up artist speaks on how her practice has evolved, the process of making the photo book, and something fleeting she wishes she could hold onto a little longer.

What is it about religion and the female body that inspired this photo book?

Jewel Yang: Prior to this book, I did some make-up work in 2022-2023 inspired by religious symbols. Around that time, I was reading a book called Pagan Sigils: Illustrated Guide to the Non Christian Symbols of Western Occultism by MB Jackson. This book talked about how branches of different religions were created as major religions spread, and how symbols change as they adapt to a new culture. And this idea of how our belief can ‘evolve’ really inspired me. 

Unlike your earlier work featuring traditional Kam art and 3D bioplastic masks, the work in this photo book feels softer and more minimal. How has your practice evolved? 

Jewel Yang: I worked on a lot of make-up and designs inspired by my own ethnicity, Kam. The aesthetic and style of that work was more decorative and tribal. I think I shifted my creative process from looking inside to looking outside. Being Kam, a minority ethnicity, we were always seen as a unique ‘outsider’ of mainstream culture. And according to MB Jackson’s point in his book Pagan Sigils, Kam’s belief and practice of witchcraft would most definitely be a pagan one. On the other hand, major religions spread across the globe and their aesthetics influence almost everyone on this planet. So to me, every religion makes sense but every religion is a foreign one. I tried to create this book with my own understanding of religious symbols. 

What was the photobook-making process like? Was it different to creating looks for social media?

Jewel Yang: It was different in every way possible. Sometimes I would do make-up at [the model’s] house, or at my hotel or out in the park.  While creating this book, I focused more on models’ individuality and who they are and how they are connected to my make-up. Every make-up look I created in this book takes time to fully understand the meaning behind. But when I create for social media, it’s more about the colour and trend.

How did you plan the designs? Did you sketch them out beforehand, or draw directly onto the model’s skin?

Jewel Yang: I had a vague plan in mind and a photo album in my phone to keep track of all the make-up I wanted to do. This book had to include different body parts, different skin tones, and different stories. I drew directly on the models' skin. 

What’s something ephemeral you wish you could hold onto a little longer?

Jewel Yang: I travel a lot, and I’m quite drawn to nature and ancient ruins. Those short moments of seeing and being with something that was created 1,000 years before really touch me. So being in nature or in ancient ruins would be something I want to hold onto a little longer. I would wish to have lived in every civilization and in every form possible. 

Did working on body parts like the neck or a pregnant stomach feel different from doing make-up on the faces of professional runway models? How did the different identities of your subjects shape the designs?

Jewel Yang: I had the opportunity to do body paint before. But it was the first time painting on a pregnant stomach. My friend was in her 38th week and almost ready to give birth. I’m very grateful that every model in my book volunteered to help me with this project. I designed every look individually and they matched their own identities. For example, Sogumm, the Korean singer, she is a Christian and a Pisces. So I did a tiny choir angel on her forehead and another fish bone makeup (fish is a symbol for Jesus). Cacien is a Chinese pop singer. I did a wing makeup on her back because Seraphine is a singing angel. C0nnos is a Greek artist, so I painted arrows and blue blood on them that mimicked a scene from Saint Sebastian. And for my pregnant friend Jiayue, I painted a sleeping angel on her belly.

Genesis Vanishing is available to purchase here.