I started my journey in understanding what radical beauty really is with the use of a dictionary. After defining the word ‘radical’ I decided to look for synonyms that would be the best representation of my associations with this specific word. Drastic, violent and forceful were few of many interesting synonyms that I found and the most relatable for me. Those words made me think of something absolute and cruel but also gorgeous. In order to find some real-life examples of radical beauty, I decided to read Feminine Ideal by M. Thesander (1997). In this book, I found great examples of beauty radicalization throughout the ages in different cultures. I read about body scarification in Africa, the Japanese art of tattooing, three-inch golden lotus in China, corsets in Europe and many others. All of those examples are for me the best representation of radical beauty and how people are forming it in different cultures. Also after a short reflection, I think that radical beauty still exists, even in our modern western culture, because radical beauty is a depiction of 'perfection'.
After looking at many examples of fashion campaigns and beauty adverts I have noticed a tendency in body type. Man must always have V-shaped muscular mesomorph body type (of course it is always artificially enhanced in post-production) but he can never be an example of endomorphy or ectomorphy for some reason. That is why most of the men will not even match contemporary beauty ideals which leads to visual deception of the human body. As someone who belongs to this sad group of guys who do not look like Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham or any other athlete, I feel affected by this propaganda. I was 14 years old boy with proper BMI when I felt disgusted by my body for the first time, the biggest reason for that was general beauty propaganda to which I was exposed to. It was in film, photography and most importantly adverts. Everything that surrounded me and should have entertained me was also telling me that I am not matching the standards so in conclusion, I am not attractive. Because of that I started running every day and decreased the number of consumed calories to 1000. After just three months I lost 15 kilograms, and after another two I started to look really unhealthy and needed to visit a doctor because of possible hormonal problem. Also, I know that I am not the only one that was affected or still is, by the general beauty propaganda. A lot of young people, especially girls get into this unhealthy habit of low caloric diet which often leads to anorexia or bulimia. All of that does not happen for no reason, people start to doubt their natural attractiveness because they are comparing themselves with models in adverts who despite looking gorgeous are still photoshopped in post-production. That is why I think that contemporary beauty propaganda is a perfect example of radical beauty. Because it was forcefully formed by society and is held by the beauty and fashion industry to keep people spending money on body enhancements so that business can run.
My first idea for capturing radical beauty in fashion photography was to take autoportraits in underwear while recreating most famous athletes possess in campaigns and after that photoshop my body to look like an example of contemporary body ideals. That showed in diptychs would allow noticing the contrast between the average body and the 'perfect' one. It would also clearly show what enhancement would my body need to be 'perfect'. But when I started working on this idea I noticed that the whole project seems monotonous and after four diptychs the photos have nothing more to say. That is why I decided to completely change the way of showing 'my radical beauty'. I decided to abandon the concept of editing my own body and choose naturalism and quite dark aesthetics. Thanks to the changes in assumptions for the first time in my life I decided to show my body as it is, without any deceptions. I stood in front of the camera and started to take various poses. This experiment allowed me to observe how my body looks like in different variants, and to accept its imperfections internally. Things which I always hated in my body started to become completely normal in some positions. For example, folds on my stomach became completely acceptable to my consciousness when I sat on a chair. Someone could say that it is obvious but to me, it wasn't because ideals in films or advertisements don't look like that, but it doesn't mean that human shouldn't look like that. What is more, these are the elements that humans always have and the fact that visual propaganda does not want to show it proves the radicalism of the beauty and standards presented by it. However, I do not consider myself opposed to contemporary visual trends, I even think that they are necessary. After all, as viewers, people want to see what is beautiful and attractive, and Calvin Klein's boxers will sell much better on a perfectly built sportsman than on someone with an average body. All this is a kind of aspiration for unnatural visual perfection, and as a consequence, it is devoid of the human element of imperfection.
To sum up, radical beauty is an artificial product of society and is different for every culture. This means that the ideals for western culture are not necessarily attractive to other cultures, such as the Asian, wherein smaller towns a man with a large belly is considered a symbol of wealth and is therefore very attractive. Nevertheless, in every culture, the ideal of beauty is an object of desire and what makes it unique is its radicalization because it is what forcefully determines the symbols of perfection.
