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Face painting video by British artist showing woman's transformation goes viral

 

Lizzie Dearden
Saturday 01 February 2014 12:29 EST
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Emma Allen's video 'Ruby' has gone viral
Emma Allen's video 'Ruby' has gone viral (Vimeo)

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A woman’s face transforms from a skull to a sky full of shooting stars and even a growing embryo in this incredible video.

Emma Allen, an artist from London, took more than 750 photographs for the animation – repainting her face each time.

The striking images show her age, before flowers spout from her decomposing skull and life appears from the cosmos.

The stop-motion video took five days of working 17 hours to complete.

Emma, who specialises in face and body painting, said the artwork called “Ruby” represented energy transfer and renewal.

The video was first posted in November and has since had more than 150,000 views on Vimeo and 118,000 more on YouTube.

Emma described it as "an animated self-portrait exploring the idea of rebirth and illustrating the transfer of energy from one incarnation to another".

Her other work includes head painting for a Cancer Research UK charity campaign.

She also runs a Sri Lankan art charity organising workshops for disadvantaged children.

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