HYAS – Makeup Through The Ages

HYAS: Makeup Through The Ages is the first-ever exhibition about the history of makeup in Indonesia, exploring the relationship between beauty, fashion, and culture.

The titular word is Old Javanese, which evolved from Proto-Western Malayo-Polynesian ‘qias’, meaning ‘jewellery’. It is also the root word for ‘rias’, meaning ‘makeup’, and ‘paes’, a style of traditional wedding makeup applied on the forehead.

This evolution of words suggests the holistic approach of beauty in the past, connecting jewellery, clothing, hair, and makeup as a unified field of knowledge.