Korean Beauty Secrets, 2023

This experimental video delves into the intricate entanglement of beauty standards, identity, and cultural pressures through the lens of cosmetic surgery. With a film crew, the artist posed as a potential client exploring procedures like breast implants and facial contouring, capturing the allure and complexities of South Korea’s beauty industry.
The video draws on archival images, surgery diagrams, and photographs from U.S. cosmetic surgery history—the birthplace of modern cosmetic practices—highlighting the deep, often overlooked connections between the United States and South Korea. The historical influence of U.S. military occupation in South Korea shaped not only the nation’s political and economic landscape but also its cultural ideals, including standards of beauty. This entanglement is visible in South Korea’s thriving cosmetic surgery industry, which has adopted and localized Western practices, but has ultimately created a distinctive South Korean beauty design, both problematic and future facing.

Share on: