Carnival of Masks

Profile photo of Marilyn Santiago
Marilyn Santiago
Photojournalist based in Puerto RIco
  • "Singularity"
    "Today we live in an era where people only want to show their perfect side. As if our only option is to tell the world how happy we are. As if there is no more place for imperfection."
"Be a lady they said. Wear makeup. Prime your face. Conceal your blemishes. Contour your nose. Highlight your cheekbones. Line your lids. Fill in your brows. Lengthen your lashes. Color your lips. Powder, blush, bronze, highlight. Your hair is too short. Your hair is too long. Your ends are split. Highlight your hair. Your roots are showing. Dye your hair. Not blue, that looks unnatural. You’re going grey. You look so old. Look young. Look youthful. Look ageless. Don’t get old. Women don’t get old. Old is ugly. Men don’t like ugly."
Be a Lady Poem by Camille Rainville
Programs Photoshop and Portrait Pro
"Be small. Be light. Be little. Be petite. Be feminine. Be a size zero. Be a double zero. Be nothing. Be less than nothing..."
Be a Lady Poem by Camille Rainville
Programs Photoshop and Portrait Pro
"AI"
Posted my picture on an AI program to see the results. This is the options it gave me. This is our world.
"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural ignorance."

"Edited imagery, and its influence on self-esteem and conceptions of beauty, is nothing new. “We’ve always had the challenge of images being filtered and doctored to make unrealistic measures for what beauty looks like,”
Photo-composite using PS and Bg image from Pexels​​​
"Insta Real"
"It has never been easier to give people what "they want... Our technology might be making us more insecure, but it also offers an alluring solution—with facial filters and editing apps, you can now tap and swipe away your blemishes in mere seconds." -Anna Haines
Personal Project, Photo-composite with PS (Bg image from Pexels)
‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’ was created by plastic surgeon Dr. Tijon Esho in 2018 to describe the increasing phenomenon of people seeking out cosmetic surgery to achieve their filtered face in real life.
“Adolescence is a key developmental period for the onset of depression, body image concerns and eating disorders, therefore they’re a high risk group,” 52% of girls use filters every day and 80% have used an app to change their appearance before the age of 13.
It’s so heartbreaking to think of children measuring themselves against this ideal with the big eyes and big lips, and then seeing their real selves as defective.”

Personal Project, Photo-composite with PS
"This is Us"
“People are struggling with their self-image and self-confidence more than ever. This is amplified by the increasing pressure to show a digitally distorted version of ourselves, reinforcing the idea that our beauty in real life is not good enough or worthy of likes.”
If there was ever a moment to redefine what is considered beautiful, this is it.

 Personal Project, Photo-composite with PS
Carnival of Masks
  • “I was ashamed of myself when I realized life was a costume party and I attended with my real face” ― Franz Kafka 
"Creation of beauty, art, music, gives to human beings the only answer to the horror that is human history." -Parallel Stories
Photoshop composite using Ai made detail.
Public Project
Carnival of Masks
Copyright Marilyn Santiago 2024
Updated Jul 2023
LOVE
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