There is a kind of pain that does not scream. It lives quietly behind smiles, behind perfectly blended foundations, behind eyes trained to look “normal” while carrying stories too heavy for the tongue. In South Africa, many walk among us wearing invisible bruises, learning how to survive in silence. Unmasking The Pain dares artists to do what society often avoids to look directly at that pain and refuse to turn away.
This powerful GBV makeup campaign by Services SETA is not about beauty. It is about truth. It is about using the face as a canvas where trauma, resilience, fear, and survival are laid bare. Through symbolic makeup and storytelling, creatives are invited to translate what cannot be spoken into visuals that demand to be seen. A cracked lip becomes a story of silencing. A tear etched in pigment becomes a memory that never healed. A split face becomes the reality of living two lives, the one the world sees, and the one endured in private.
For artists, this campaign speaks directly to the heart of the creative calling. It asks difficult questions: What stories live in your hands? What pain have you witnessed, inherited, or survived? What happens when art becomes a mirror instead of a mask? Unmasking The Pain gives permission to create without apology to confront gender-based violence not with statistics, but with emotion, imagery, and lived experience.
In a society numbed by headlines and hashtags, this campaign restores feeling. It reminds us that GBV is not an abstract issue, it has a face, a body, a memory. And sometimes, that face looks like someone we know. Sometimes, it looks like us. By merging makeup artistry with storytelling, Services SETA is opening a space where creatives are not just participants, but witnesses and truth-bearers.
Beyond the emotional weight, Unmasking The Pain also recognises the value of creative labour. Artists who step into this vulnerable space stand a chance to be rewarded for their courage and craft. The first prize offers R15,000 in cash plus a professional makeup kit, while second place takes R10,000 and third place walks away with R5,000. Yet the greatest reward may be the impact, the moment someone sees your work and feels less alone.
Entries close on 10 January, with winners announced on 30 January. But this is not a race against time, it is a call to conscience. A call to artists who know that creativity has always been a tool of resistance, healing, and change. A call to those ready to unmask not just pain, but courage.
At Imbizo Magazine, we believe art carries memory, culture, and truth. Unmasking The Pain reminds us that sometimes the most powerful protest does not shout, it stares back at you, unflinching, asking you to feel.
Creatives are invited to submit their entries here:
https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=ZlzP5vzC0k6Q7iOuGR9ohZuaT0HvhZlMqe42k-YyaZlUNjkwVjRaS1lSQlY3V0JGWEdPVTE2RjhDSS4u&route=shorturl
This is not about perfection. It is about honesty. This is not about makeup. It is about survival. This is Unmasking The Pain.