Our Digital Filters Shouldn’t Erase Who We Are

Follow if you believe our digital filters shouldn’t erase who we are.

The internet promised us self-expression, but somewhere along the way, it became self-correction. Every filter, edit, and enhancement quietly teaches us that our natural selves aren’t enough.

Follow if you believe our digital filters shouldn’t erase who we are.

Facetune Portraits started as an investigation into what happens when beauty becomes code. I wanted to see how AI interprets our faces — and what it reveals about our collective insecurities. What I found wasn’t just distortion, but erasure.

Across hundreds of edits, individuality disappears. The results converge toward the same ideal: smoother, thinner, lighter. The algorithm doesn’t just enhance — it homogenizes.

So I decided to reverse the process. Instead of hiding those distortions, I made them visible. Each portrait becomes a record of what the machine tried to erase, a reminder of what’s at stake when we trade authenticity for acceptability.

Technology doesn’t have to strip us of identity. It can amplify it — if we choose to use it consciously, creatively, rebelliously.

Because beauty, like art, should be a reflection of truth, not compliance.