Esther Honig is a freelance journalist who decided to send an unaltered photograph of herself to more than 40 Photoshop enthusiasts around the world, with the simple and only instruction: “make me beautifulâ€
Her clever plan was to see how each photoshop enthusiast would depict her, so she could compare the different cultural standards of beauty.
The results startled her, as the changes she saw were far more drastic than she expected. She titled the project Before & After, and it has since taken the internet and social media by storm.
Below are the photographs that Honig has received.
Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Chile
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Israel
Italy
Kenya
Morocco
Pakistan
Philippines
Romania
Serbia
Sri Lanka
U.K.
Ukraine
USA
Vietnam
From looking at these pictures it appears everyone has their own definition of beauty, but what Honig found most striking about this fascinating experiment is the collective message being sent across.
“What I’ve learned from the project is this: Photoshop [may] allow us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more illusive.â€
