Photographer Ji Yeo Reveals the Scary Plastic Surgery Obsession in South Korea

A critique of a society driven by beauty rather than worth.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Korean photographer Ji Yeo recently released a series titled, "The Beauty," where she shows the deeply terrifying emphasis on self-improvement in South Korean culture. More specifically, Yeo reveals the effects plastic surgery culture has towards her photographic subjects, and the common obsession and pain experienced by women of all kinds. A couple of Yeo's other series like "Cry" and "Somewhere on The Path, I See You" highlight similar themes where women who fail to fulfill the ideal image stressed by the media suffer deeply, much like the women bearing scars and bruises from their plastic surgery. 

In her artist statement for the series, Yeo claims her photographs use, "the wounded faces and bodies of women who have recently undergone plastic surgery to show the physical cost of adhering to social pressure in Korea." "The Beauty" draws upon the impossibility of perfection and critiques Korean culture for its upholding of a society driven by beauty rather than worth. 

[via Itsnicethat]

Latest in Style