Radical Beauty
The boundaries between the physical and the digital are blurred. In online reality, the desire for beauty is just as strong as in „real” life. Presenting an attractive version of ourselves becomes our daily goal, in achieving which we are ready to use all possible, even radical digital tricks. Augmented reality, filters on Instagram, makeup apps, personalized simulators of cosmetic procedures and surgeries are just some of the tools that help create digital beauty. Thanks to advanced online tools we can freely model our face, correct our jawline, reduce our eyebrows, edit the shape of our nose, enlarge our eyes, raise our cheekbones or transform specific areas of our facial image.
During the development of the project, I wonder whether the digital game of manipulating one’s own image can be really pleasant and innocent. Perhaps digitally edited pictures can serve as aspirational fantasies, and even when they are the product of joyful entertainment, they can have a positive impact. Thanks to contemporary media, we as women can finally reclaim our image. By experimenting, having fun, and making mistakes, we can create a new aesthetic that has a chance to replace the images of women that have functioned so far. An aesthetic that in time will overwrite the female images that existed in a patriarchal culture.
Ewa Doroszenko
