South Korea has the highest worldwide per capita rate of plastic surgery.From the Jezebel 1 out of 5 women in Seoul has undergone some kind of procedure.Eyelid surgery, to make the eyes "more Western," and getting your jawbone shaved or chiseled down for a less-square and more V-shaped look."When you are applying for university or applying for a job here, you put a picture of yourself on your resume or application," "It is sort of taken for granted that how you look will often go into the decision." She(American teacher in Seoul) says she's been told that if there are two otherwise equal candidates, the prettier person will get the job. Her students see this as normal — perhaps unsurprising when you consider the nation's status the country most obsessed with plastic surgery.A Tumblr called Korean Plastic Surgery features photographs of young South Koreans supposedly before and after plastic surgery. Some of the "after" images look as though they could be Photoshopped, but many are clearly the results of the scalpel. Eyes are larger. Noses are less wide, more streamlined, narrower. Havinga bridge in the nose seems very important. Square or prominent jaws are made delicate, V-shaped, smaller.There are a few things unsettling about the images, especially the ones in which the entire shape of the face is changed thanks to bone shaving. Somehow eyelids and nose cartilage still seem rather surface-level, whereas changing the shape of your skulljust feels extreme and intense. And what about the parents of these men and women? Are they sad when their offspring, whom they've created from their own genetic material, change the jaws and eyes and noses given to them by their mother, grandmother, great-grand-mother? Or maybe the parents have already had their bones shaved, or paid for the kids' surgery, or would if they could.
Korean born photographer and artist JI YEO since moved to America noticed a stark difference in the approaches Eastern and Western cultures take toward plastic surgery.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com)
Her series, entitled "BEAUTY RECOVERY ROOM" shows the painful lengths women will go to achieve what they view as aesthetic perfection. In addition to the photographs below, YEO created a performance piece in which she stood in a nude unitard holding a sign that read: "I want to be perfect. Draw on me. Where should I get plastic surgery?"
BEAUTY RECOVERY ROOM SERIES USES 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. PLASTIC SURGERY HAS BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF KOREA’S CURRENT CULTURE, OFTEN REGARDED AS A INTEGRAL STEP IN THE IN SELF IMPROVEMENT PROCESS. GOING UNDER THE KNIFE, ENDURING BRUISES, SCARS, AND BEING UNDER GENERAL ANAESTHETIC SEVERAL TIMES ARE NO LONGER CONSIDERED RISKY OR EXTRAVAGANT. THEY HAVE ALL HAD MULTIPLE PROCEDURES AND HAVE PLANS FOR FUTURE AUGMENTATION. THE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN DIRECTLY AFTER THEIR OPERATION WHILE THEY WERE RESTING AND WAITING TO BE HEALED.
THE LATEST RAW DATA COMPILED FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AESTHETIC PLASTIC SURGERY IN 2010, CONFIRMS THAT SOUTH KOREA IS INDEED THE COUNTRY WITH THE WORLD’S HIGHEST PER CAPITA RATE OF COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY. IT IS A CULTURE WHERE MEN ARE JUDGED ON THEIR FINANCIAL BALANCE SHEET AND WOMEN BY THEIR BEAUTY. THE MALE-DOMINATED MEDIA ENDLESSLY REINFORCES ITS MODEL OF THE IDEAL WOMAN. AS A RESULT OF THESE CULTURAL FORCES KOREA HAS BECOME A BEAUTY-ORIENTED SOCIETY WHERE PEOPLE ARE JUDGED MORE FOR THEIR APPEARANCE THAN THEIR CHARACTER. KOREAN WOMEN, OFTEN FALL INTO THE TRAP OF TRYING TO LIVE UP TO THE IDEAL PERSONIFIED IN THE MEDIA. THE COMBINATION OF THESE FACTORS HAS DRAMATICALLY INCREASED THE BURGEONING PLASTIC SURGERY INDUSTRY WHILE CREATING ANOTHER SET OF STANDARDS FOR WOMEN TO ADHERE TO. (http://jiyeo.com/thebeauty-statement)
After Nan Goldin or Steven Maisel fashion stories for Italian Vogue Ji Yeo photographed these woman during their recovery, she was meeting them at their houses, cooking them and helping with the constant killing pain."Whereas sexiness is highly emphasized in Los Angeles, in Korea, notions of childlike femininity and innocence... reign supreme," Yeo wrote in an email to the Huffington Post. "Most of the plastic surgeries performed in Korea aim to minimize Asian characteristics and make Korean women appear more like Caucasian women."(huffingtonpost).
Nan Goldin selfportrait
Steven Maisel for Vogue Italia
Rita Zimmermann 2008
As an artist I respect when the other artists tell us about things we don't want to see or listen.The stories behind the doors.Why You turn your head while looking at the pictures above are you scared?Indeed we should be scared of where it is all going to?Are we creating cyborgs for our own pleasure?Look at the movie attached down below is it one person or just a one plastic surgery doctor?
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