Today we’d like to introduce you to Abhirami Viswakumar.
Hi Abhirami, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey – I am a South Indian from a conservative family where makeup is stigmatized and considered taboo. I was always discouraged from using it and never felt confident to pull it off.
However, for my wedding, everyone suggested that I get bridal makeup done. So, this unusual societal exemption was offered to me where for the first time everyone encouraged me to use makeup rather than frowning upon it.
I truly fell in love with makeup particularly when I got my bridal makeup done. It is not just the physical transformation that amazed me but how the makeup managed to bring my best features forward. I started seeing it as an art form rather than an exercise in vanity. It boosted my confidence and I started seeing myself as a creator in this space.
Even as an art form, your skin color is a major aspect when it comes to beauty and make-up. I have learned a huge deal about the representation of people of color, product/shade availability among major brands and the mainstream perception of beauty standards, and how skin color plays a role in all these aspects. I started feeling the need for representing my skin and involving myself with people of my community who are more often lacking in confidence to use beauty products and make-up for all the above reasons.
I started posting tutorials, easy everyday makeup looks, no-makeup looks, clean beauty makeup, and skincare. I specifically target South Indian skin colors, fashion, and social sensibilities. I am happiest when my audiences view my work and see themselves in it. I would like people with my brown skin tone (especially South Indian women) to gain the confidence to express themselves and brush past social stigmas.
My face is my canvas. Makeup is my art form.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the bubble I grew up in, there is a misconceived emphasis on “natural beauty” where it is considered vain or immoral to use any beauty products to enhance one’s appearance.
I also grew up routinely reminded that I was too dark-skinned to be considered conventionally beautiful. Hearing this constantly not only reduces one’s confidence about their appearance but also in various aspects of their life.
Makeup helped me draw the line between how others see me and how I see myself. I truly see this as art that I use as a form of expression and become more confident as an individual. However, this is also not an art form that I can share with many people in my personal life as they will never be able to understand it.
I have been working on changing these misconceptions and there is a long way to go.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a full-time controls engineer working for an engineering firm in Memphis.
I am one of the very few women you would see in this field of work and definitely the only girl on the factory floor. People are often surprised by my proficiency “despite being a woman”.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I am an immigrant to the US. The biggest risk I took was leaving my entire life in India, my parents, and my family behind to start a life here. Life as an immigrant is fraught with uncertainty and stress. Keeping one’s immigration status and work permit legal is a constant struggle that is completely draining and all-consuming.
It is a constant source of uncertainty in one’s life that affects everything such as buying a house or expanding your family. Every day things that non-immigrants take for granted are just a major risk if your legal status in the country is not permanent. Non-immigrants don’t understand how tedious the legal process of immigration is and how intensively risky it is.
Even today, if my visa expires and I am unable to renew it correctly (as has become common due to absurdly long delays in processing paperwork) I will have to leave my entire life in the US and go back to India. Living in this constant state of fragility is a way of life for immigrants like me.
Contact Info:
- Email: abhirami.viswakumar@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_rvk_lifestyle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abhirami.viswakumar
