stole this pic from jess' blog: http://clipsandcustoms.blogspot.com/ Check it out!About a month ago I went to a photography exhibit called Beauty CULTure (http://www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org/exhibitions/overview.asp). I've been meaning to write about it for a while now. It was a collection of pictures featuring models, anorexics, bodily mutilation (aka plastic surgery), women of color, ect. It was an interesting exploration into how our culture defines beauty and the extent people go to acquire that very specific definition of beauty. Needless to say, I've been thinking alot about beauty lately...more thoughts to come.
The picture makes me think of what we associate with the word "natural." We tend to think of "natural" as always having a good connotation. However, it seems to me that part of what it means to be human is to be, in some ways, "unnatural." Even looking at the Genesis narrative, God did not place humanity in the middle of the jungle, but rather a garden--a uniquely human enterprise. Of course, there's an extent to which overmodification leads to complete artificiality, so we tend to find the best route to be one of balance. I'm just saying that I don't think it's wrong to associate beauty with a healthy amount of self-modification. : )
ReplyDelete