Marc Erwin Babej Exhibition – Mask of Perfection

What happens when our subjective perceptions of natural beauty are confronted with the plastic surgeon’s scientific, geometry-based standard of beauty?

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Our printed editions, circulating throughout various galleries, festivals and agencies are dipped in creativity.

The spirit of DODHO’s printed edition is first and foremost an opportunity to connect with a photographic audience that values the beauty of print and those photographers exhibited within the pages of this magazine.

We invite professional and amateur photographers from all around the world to share their work in our printed edition.

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Beauty as product? – What happens when our subjective perceptions of natural beauty are confronted with the plastic surgeon’s scientific, geometry-based standard of beauty?

The women portrayed by Marc Erwin Babej are all in their Twenties and conform to perceptions of beauty in our current society. New York Cory plastic surgeon Dr. Maria M. LoTempio was given the assignment to do what it takes to “upgrade” these “patients” according to the standards of her profession. All “patients” were initially evaluated via a set of five clinical images and then examined in person. Finally, they were marked with pre- operative markings – the Mask of Perfection. The images in this series were taken in this state. No procedures were performed following the images.

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Marc Erwin Babej and plastic surgeon Dr. Maria M. LoTempio have selected and portrayed twelve women focusing on the tension between our ideal of natural beauty and the standards of plastic surgery. For the photographer, the emerging beauty ideal of plastic surgery represents a radical shift in the understanding of beauty itself: it has become a line item on a shopping list. Whether this development is liberating or cheapens the concept of human beauty (or both at the same time) is a matter of individual judgment.

“I tried to visually superimpose the ideal of beauty surgery onto the traditional, subjective perception of beauty in order to show discrepancies and tensions between the two.” Marc Erwin Babej

The style of representation aims to prevent knee-jerk “for” or “against” reactions, and instead to inspire individual reflection. This is achieved by dual alienation effects: The markings “mar the view” of the subjects, preventing viewers from immersing themselves in their natural beauty. Meanwhile, the romantic, aestheticizing style of portraiture was chosen to bar viewers from overly identifying with the plastic surgeon. At the end we are confronted with two masks. But can we still see the beauty behind them? If so, which?

Botox injected into the muscles of the forehead and crow’s feet, to minimize wrinkles. Filler injected into nasolabial folds to smooth out the depressions. Filler injected into the cheekbones to create a more symmetrical look.
Botox injected into the muscles of the forehead and crow’s feet, to minimize wrinkles. Filler injected into nasolabial folds to smooth out the depressions. Filler injected into the cheekbones to create a more symmetrical look.

Galerie Julian Sander

Opening: Friday October 23rd, 7-9 pm

Prinz-Albert-Str. 12

53113 Bonn, Germany
www.galeriejuliansander.de

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Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
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