2012 GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Multimedia Category

Barber Shop

Multimedia and text by
Elena Bulygina

"Make knees younger, soften skin, remove all wrinkles and imperfections, enlarge breasts, make the butt smaller, flatten stomach, even the light and color, clear the stray hair, remove everything that is not perfect..."

Most of human body images we see in media and advertising are retouched. Body in modern culture is far from real bodies around, everybody knows that fashion shoots create false reality but it doesn't make them less appealing or less persuading.

For this project I asked people what they would want to change in their bodies. After taking photos, I retouched them as I do on my daily job. Working in the industry which portrays people with BMI<19 and often without nasolabial folds, really helps to notice how beautiful everyone around is.

In computer games you can always visit Barber Shop and change your in-game appearance in a few clicks – something that would be in extreme demand in real life, reflecting different ideas of identity in an attempt to deal with self-doubt.

How do we see ourselves? How do we see others? How can a beauty be measured by the width of a hand?

— Elena Bulygina


For more information about this project and the author, visit the website elenabulygina.com.