PLASTIC SURGERY - JI YEO IMAGE ANALYSIS

During our lecture last week, we began to learn about Semiotics. To start with, we talked about meaningful communication through images. Below is an example of my analysis of an image. I have denoted the literal meaning behind the picture, followed by the connotations that we can take from the denoted information.


"People find beauty in the most difficult circumstances, during chaos and disorder..."
- Ji Yeo, Beauty Recovery Room

Ji Yeo is a Brooklyn based artist who graduated from Korea in Visual Communication Design, followed by a master’s degree in Photography at the Rhode Island School of Design.

This image is from a series called the ‘Beauty Recovery Room’, produced in 2014. The series is about the wounded faces and bodies of the women who have recently undergone plastic surgery in Korea. By taking these shocking images, it shows the physical cost and pain plastic surgery causes just to adhere to social pressure in Korea. For women in Korea, it is typical of the culture for women to have to look a certain way. The only importance and priority is for them to be beautiful and look perfect at all times, this forces these women to undergo these huge changes to conform to social expectations.

In this image, we see a woman in a nude body suit. The purpose of this body suit is to protect and conceal. It morphs to the shape of her body to suck it in. Her underwear is still on show so that we can clearly see her exposed cleavage. By covering herself up in this body suit takes away and hides the fact that she has just undergone plastic surgery. It is like she doesn’t want anyone to see her new body, which is ironic considering she has been through so much pain at an expense to look this way. The irony and the fact that she doesn’t want to show off is reinforced by the nude colouring of this body suit. This colour suggests a skin like look, so that it blurs in with her natural self, this allows her to appear to be much more natural and pure.

The idea of hiding yourself away is strengthened further through this ladies face being hid and not shown. The fact that she is hiding her identity suggests that she is ashamed and wants to protect herself, because even after all the surgery she is still not comfortable or happy. To the audience, this point contradicts the purpose of plastic surgery. It is always perceived to be a good thing, as it will make you feel and look better. However, I feel by hiding the fact you’ve done it contrasts to this point, as it shows an element of denial.

On the other hand, the posture of this woman is almost forced as she is stood with her hand on her hip. This pose is almost provocative and exposed; like she wants to show off, yet not be seen.

Whilst viewing this image- it is initially shocking, yet we come to terms with the fact that this is the reality. Yeo’s main message by creating this series is to expose the truths and pain of plastic surgery. We can clearly see this physical pain through the bruising on her right arm. This makes you wonder is it really worth the pain that you are putting yourself through all for a social ideal? Yet even though she did go through with this, it is suggesting that she is still not happy. Although their body is perfect, the rest of them may not be. You can’t change everything. By looking at this image I feel that these women in the series are not in a mental state of mind due to the pressure. They live in a culture where they are so pressured; it becomes all they can think about. And when you only want to be perfect all the time, it makes you even more uncomfortable with yourself, hence why this women would rather hide and only expose the positive things. Which in her case are her breasts.

The reality of this culture is overwhelming yet it is happening everywhere. Plastic surgery is becoming so socially normal, people do it so often, to the point it becomes obsessive. This has made me think why do women feel like they have to do this? No one has the perfect image; it is just created to look like there is a perfect look due to models and celebrities being enhanced with software such as Photoshop. These representations that are thrown at us through the media are not a real representation. People fail to remember that we only see an end product as a consumer of the images shown to us in the media.  There is a huge process that professionals have to go through before the final end image is produced. By viewing this image, it confirms my beliefs that plastic surgery does not fix everything, instead only leaves more scars; both mentally and physically. 


view more of Yeo's work at: jiyeo.com