THE UGLY TRUTH
The Ugly Truth is a body of work designed to portray the perception of how we look at ourselves differently today in 2018, 50 years on from the birth of the internet. Arguably the biggest change is the most recent - The rise in social media and consumerism, which goes hand in hand with our growing obsession to look like what has been put in front of us in advertisements and what we see in every corner of the internet. Even when knowing the image has been manipulated, ironically, we as people allow ourselves to also be manipulated by the image.
The aim of this project was to present how the rise of the internet has sculpted us and the changes it has had on human behaviour. In the way we look at ourselves and in how we look at others. From a personal point of view the media has not had a solely positive influence on my life. Especially in the way I view or approach ‘beauty’. The effects of constant worrying and paranoia about how you look or what other people see in you are proven to lead to bad mental health.
In certain forms or parts of the media there is this idea that perfection means beautiful and that has somehow escalated to a point where not even perfect is good enough anymore. This is the perception that has masked reality and is what drives people against themselves because of how they may view their own body.
The aim for my project is to not just raise awareness. But also, open people’s eyes and get them asking questions. That constant worrying is not a normal way of thinking,
that the number of likes on Instagram doesn’t change who you are as a person,
that you should want to look like you, and no one else,
that it’s ok to be confident in your own skin,
that most of what you see is not the natural standard.
that the number of likes on Instagram doesn’t change who you are as a person,
that you should want to look like you, and no one else,
that it’s ok to be confident in your own skin,
that most of what you see is not the natural standard.
