From fashion magazines, to Instagram, to body shaming billboards on the tube, we’re being bombarded with more ‘beautiful’ images today than ever before. But thanks to social media, we’ve also opened up what beauty means — gone are the days when a singular cis, white, thin, able-bodied narrative dominated. Now more and more voices are being heard and stories are being told and the world is taking note. No longer confined to the margins, collective discourse about issues relating to gender, age, sexuality, race, and body image are now being encouraged on a grand scale.
To celebrate, this week we will be examining the meaning of beauty, and the politics surrounding such definitions. How have perceptions of beauty shifted and by what means? What issues still need to be tackled? How does beauty function within different cultures and different countries? How is beauty celebrated now?
Over the course of the week we will be meeting a host of activists challenging normative standards of beauty; models and models agents who represent the kind of diversity they wish to see, a new frontier of make-up artists and beauty influencers who will be sharing their tips to making it in one of the most lucrative industries in the world, and calling upon some of the most exciting young photographers as they capture what beauty means to them.
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock