These Creepy Photos Will Remind You How Monstrous Beauty Standards Are

In the glossy pages of Vogue, it’s easy to see extreme beauty treatments as a kind of goofy lark. These photos by Australian artist Jessica Ledwich will remind you that, say, injecting fat into your lips or immobilizing your brow with botulinum toxin is actually quite disturbing if you really stop to ponder it.

The photos, part of a series called “Monstrous Feminine,” come via the Huffington Post, who recently interviewed Ledwich. “I personally think what is really disturbing now is the way that the expectation of a women to engage in beauty treatments, procedures and cosmetic surgery, is so ingrained in our culture that we don’t even think twice about it,” she explained, adding a bit of background:

“Like most women, I spent a lot of time reading fashion magazines as a young girl…. I didn’t think much about the messages that were constantly being pushed but I was aware of this sense of women’s sexuality being something that was scary, uncomfortable and somewhat threatening and this strong sense of fear surrounding the idea of aging.”

The irony is, it’s easy to imagine watered-down versions of these very photos appearing in a fashion magazine, touting the hot pastel trend for spring.