Zed Nelson is a UK-based photographer who just released a book of images and text titled "Love Me", examining the impact of the beauty/enhancement industry across the globe and noting that human beings are seemingly striving to a shockingly similar aesthetic, leading to a largely homogenized version of "people". The images in "Love Me" range from a woman with severe anorexia to discarded eyelash extensions, they are memorable and sometimes shocking.
I have been poring over the book all afternoon, mesmerized by photos of a jailhouse beauty pageant winner, a normal-sized 13-year old girl at a weight-loss camp bragging about losing 8 lbs in 10 days, and the gory sheets of skin being lifted by surgeons during a tummy tuck procedure.
The captions beside each image is what really nails the point home - the price we are paying for beauty is becoming, well, priceless. Check out Nelson's website: www.zednelson.com for a full range of the images. Pretty unforgettable.
