Description

We live in an age obsessed with physical beauty. Photographs – how we look in pictures – have become increasingly important and have come to occupy an ever-greater place in our consciousness. We communicate through images, date through images, follow others’ lives and share our own through images. Everyone walks around with a camera in their hand. We have all been transformed into voyeurs, even though what we are looking at is ourselves. Sexiness has become a diffuse form of status and competence.

Whilst female physical beauty is more widespread and revered than ever, through billions of photographs and selfies, beauty is under threat, as it has been appropriated by capitalism and turned into an object of consumption.

Drawing on philosophical and sociological theories, Liv Strömquist reflects on our era’s obsession with looking good, and tells the stories of several women throughout history whose lives were governed by their appearance. Rachel from the Old Testament, whom Joseph married because she was more beautiful than her sister. Empresses Sisi and Eugénie, who competed to see who had the slimmest waist and inspired noblewomen across Europe to follow suit. Snow White’s mother, who tries to find a way to come to terms with the transience of physical beauty. Marilyn Monroe, who was photographed naked six weeks before her death; Kim Kardashian, who photographs herself; and the bust of Queen Nefertiti, which fills everyone who looks at her with a sense of enigmatic, meaningless desire.

Like no other, Liv Strömquist puts her finger on the pulse of our times. It is funny, insightful – and anything but flattering.