25 countries photoshop esther honig to make her beautiful
(above) gif by designboom / all images courtesy of esther honig
the standard of what is considered to be beautiful is geographically relative, varying across cultures on a global level. in a project which manifests these tendencies on a visual scale, journalist esther honig has created a photographic series ‘before & after’, in which she contacted 40 individuals, from more than 25 countries and made a simple request: ‘make me beautiful’.
she sent an unedited photo of herself to graphic designers (some experts in their field, others amateur) to countries like sri lanka, ukraine, the philippines, and kenya, hoping that each creative would source their personal perception and cultural conclusions of beauty to enhance her original image. ‘photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty‘ honig describes ‘but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more illusive.’
before & after of morocco
before & after of argentina
before & after of united states of america
before & after of philippines
before & after of indonesia
before & after of chile
before & after of kenya
before & after of serbia
before & after of pakistan
