25 countries photoshop esther honig to make her beautiful

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

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