OBSCURA

by Curate

Created by the 2025 winners of the CURATE Awards, Jess Wilson, Kynan Booty, Elisha Forgione, Kealey-Grace Harkins and Kobi Lee, ‘Obscura’ explores the tension between what is revealed and what remains hidden.

The word obscura comes from the Latin for “darkened,” and evokes both mystery and concealment. It recalls the camera obscura, an ancient device where light enters a dark space to reveal hidden images, and is a fitting metaphor for this collection, where darkness becomes a lens, a filter that changes what we see and what we imagine.

This exciting next-gen team worked on the shoot together under the expert guidance of CURATE Founder and Mentor Justin Pace as part of the overall CURATE prize package valued at over $51k. This huge list of prizes also included Excellent Edges Scissors, ghd Electrical Tools, ELEVEN Australia Styling Products and exclusive L’Oréal ACCESS education vouchers.

With the winners coming from all across Australia and New Zealand, the team workshopped together to create the looks through a series of Zoom sessions alongside Justin, all collaborating creatively from start to finish. Their ‘Obscura’ is a visual symphony of colour, form, and texture. It demonstrates how hair can become a medium for light itself, reflecting, absorbing, and refracting in ways that draw the viewer in.

Look One – Hair is reimagined as sculpture with copper strands meticulously woven into an intricate headpiece that encases the head like armour. The structure is at once regal and protective, balancing strength with fragility.

Look Two – A crown of intricate curls rises dramatically, dusted with gradients of smoky lilac. The play of light across its peaks and troughs enhances the sense of height and dimension, like a sculpted column.

Look Three – Rich crimson tendrils are sculpted into fluid, lacquer-like waves that seem to melt and reform. With light grazing across its surface, the hair appears alive and liquid.

Look Four – Platinum blonde is cut into clean, geometric planes, fractured with panels of deep violet. Under the shifting shadows, the blunt lines become sharper, revealing the precision cutting layered with the softness of colour.

Look Five – Volume soars upward in a towering form, streaked with an electric flash of cobalt blue. This look embodies the collections theatrical nature, bold, exaggerated, and unapologetically commanding.

Look Six – Sleek strands fall with razor-sharp precision, the neutral tones ignited by a vertical blaze of neon yellow. Concealed angles and revealed textures shift depending on where the shadow cuts.

Look Seven - Woven copper reveals its true intensity with intense shine and vibrancy. Light and shadow divide the face, while the textured weave conceals as much as it reveals.

The strength of ‘Obscura’ lies not only in its technical execution but in its conceptual layering. The collection asks the viewer to see hair not as static, but as ever-changing, the mood altered by a flicker of shadow, colour transformed by a shard of light. Each image is an invitation to question what is being revealed and what remains hidden.

Special thanks go to the CURATE 2025 Collaborators who are supporting this dynamic talent including Official Media Partner Mocha Group, Major Partner L’Oréal Access, Prize Partners Excellent Edges, ghd and ELEVEN Australia, Sustainability Partner Sustainable Salons, and Proud Supporters MIG Training, the AHC and Jadore Hair who also supplied all hair for the shoot.

Collection Credits

Hair & Fashion: CURATE Team 2025 Jess Wilson, Kynan Booty, Elisha Forgione, Kealey-Grace Harkins and Kobi Lee, mentored by CURATE Founder Justin Pace

Photography: Jarred Stedman

Makeup: Brinley Parigi and Felicity Smith