“I’m interested in what we define as beauty, when we choose to create it ourselves,” says photographer Phillip Toledano. This striking series of portraits features partially robed models undergone significant plastic surgery. Facial modification, implants, lifts, collagen injections and their multiple combinations — these photos may seem extreme to many, but there’s something transcendent in their classical poses lit in gorgeous chiaroscuro, their determined faces. “When we re-make ourselves, are we revealing our true character, or are we stripping away our very identity? Perhaps we are creating a new kind of beauty. An amalgam of surgery, art, and popular culture? And if so, are the results the vanguard of human induced evolution?”
Despite our society’s taboos regarding extreme plastic surgery, it’s hard to deny the artistic element in the practice of absolute control over your body — not just in life/work of Genesis P-Orridge and Orlan. In his book Arboretum, David Byrne writes: “Although I don’t expect to see live Picasso faces walking around anytime soon, I do expect to see cubism’s fleshy mirror image: faces and bodies not found in nature that express an aesthetic and philosophy that is refined, elite and obscure.” Think on that while you look at these works from Phillip Toledano’s A New Kind of Beauty.
Yvette. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Steve. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Sonia. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Angel. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Dina. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Justin. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Ava. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Gina. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Michael. Photo credit: Mr Toledano
Allanah. Photo credit: Mr Toledano