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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 i

I’m interested in power — especially the kind that hides in plain sight. As an artist, I use technology not just as a tool but as a subject: a living system that shapes identity, value, and visibility. My work is about exposing and subverting those systems — taking the invisible mechanics of the internet and turning them into art. An artist subverting the systems shaping the tech-driven age. Before becoming an artist, I worked at Google. There, I learned how algorithms make d

This isn’t just about beauty. It’s about who gets to decide what’s “better.” When I first began experimenting with AI beauty filters for Facetune Portraits , I thought I was exploring aesthetics — how technology distorts faces, how algorithms shape identity. But it quickly became clear that beauty was only the surface. This isn’t just about beauty. It’s about who gets to decide what’s “better.” Behind every edit is a decision. Behind every “enhancement” is a hierarchy. These

“So I was thinking I could climb into the shelves for a shot?” -The Artist Who Hacked the Art World That was the first thing I said when the camera started rolling in my Barbican apartment — which, like most of my life, exists somewhere between art, code, and chaos. So I was thinking I could climb into the shelves for a shot? I’ve always believed art should live at the intersection of play and power. From a career at Google to engineering SEO hacks that inserted my name into

In a world of copies, I’m making one-of-a-kind paintings about the pressure to conform. Technology has made it easier than ever to replicate, to remix, to repeat — but in that convenience, something deeply human is lost. Every algorithm is built on recognition: it rewards what it already understands. The result is a culture that values repetition over originality, predictability over risk.  In a world of copies, I’m making one-of-a-kind paintings about the pressure to conform

AI has an opinion on how we should look. That might sound like science fiction, but it’s already happening every time we open our cameras, apply a filter, or upload a photo. The algorithms behind these tools aren’t neutral — they’ve been trained on millions of images to decide what “beautiful” means.  AI has an opinion on how we should look — and it’s compressing all of humanity into a single idea of what beauty is. And what they’ve learned isn’t diversity. It’s compression.

Rebellion of Being Real... Maybe the most rebellious thing you can be today is unapologetically yourself. In a culture obsessed with control — over how we look, how we sound, how we exist online — authenticity feels like an act of resistance. Maybe the most rebellious thing you can be today is unapologetically yourself. Facetune Portraits  was born from that tension: a refusal to be edited into compliance. I began experimenting with beauty filters not to correct images, but t

Today, young women are comparing themselves to faces and bodies that literally do not exist.This is not a metaphor — it’s the reality of AI-driven beauty culture. Filters and editing apps generate a world of digital ideals that have no physical counterpart. They blend millions of data points into one perfect face — smooth, symmetrical, and statistically irresistible. But the more we engage with these images, the more they reshape our sense of self.  Today young women are comp

AI is telling us how to be beautiful.I decided to disagree.  AI is telling us how to be beautiful. Gretchen Andrew decided to disagree. When I began working with beauty filters and AI-driven editing tools, I wasn’t trying to make a statement — I was trying to understand why every face I uploaded came back looking less like itself. It didn’t matter who she was: Miss Nigeria, Miss Denmark, Miss Argentina. The AI wanted to “improve” them all in the same way. It thinned their bod

Every scroll comes with a price.What social media sells as beauty often hides something deeper — the quiet harm of comparison, distortion, and erasure.   Facetune Portraits  makes the hidden scars of social media visible. When I created Facetune Portraits , I wanted to reveal those hidden scars. I wasn’t interested in the polished surface of perfection, but in the quiet, unseen consequences of chasing it. Each image begins as a collaboration with AI — and a confrontation. The

We live in a time when even imperfection has become a marketable aesthetic.Self-acceptance is trending, but behind the slogans and affirmations lies a quieter truth: someone, somewhere, told us what to hate first. Before you can love your “flaws,” you have to see who’s telling you they’re flaws in the first place. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  begins with that uncomfortable realization. Before you can love your “flaws,” you have to question who taught you to see them

Lip injections costs an average cost of around $868. What could we be doing instead?

AI wants us to be perfect.But perfection is just another word for control. Social Media Filters. When I began exploring digital beauty tools, I realized they weren’t only smoothing skin — they were smoothing identity. Facetune Portraits  grew from that realization: that our visual culture is quietly standardizing us through code, compressing individuality into a single, algorithm-approved version of “beautiful.”  AI-driven beauty standards are compressing us into a controlled

In a digital world obsessed with likes, filters, and algorithmic validation, Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  ask a simple but radical question: what if we celebrated the face that gets things done  instead?  Let’s celebrate the face that gets things done — not the one that gets the most likes. The series dismantles our idea of beauty shaped by AI and social media, spotlighting women whose unfiltered faces reflect power, effort, and creativity. Each portrait confronts th

Every photo we take passes through invisible algorithms designed to “enhance” us. These systems brighten skin, narrow faces, and smooth imperfections — all in the name of beauty. Our phones “improve” us without asking. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  makes that invisible process impossible to ignore. But who decided what “improvement” looks like? Digital Beauty? In her Facetune Portraits  series, Gretchen Andrew reclaims that process, pushing it to its breaking point. S

Miss USA and Miss Puerto Rico The rise of Facetune Portraits  marks a defining moment in the intersection of technology, feminism, and contemporary art. Gretchen Andrew’s acclaimed Facetune Portraits  series continues its global impact — now with two works acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art. The series — which examines how AI, filters, and digital beauty tools reshape identity — has gained international recognition over the past year. After winning the Acquisition

Miss Philippines We scroll, we double-tap, and we remind ourselves: it’s not real. But our bodies still tense, our self-image still shifts, and our reflection still feels like something to fix. Even when we know beauty is manufactured, we can’t escape the pressure to live up to it. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  exposes why that illusion still holds power. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  unpacks this contradiction. The series uses AI-generated “enhancements” on p

AI tells us it’s “enhancing” beauty. But what happens when every enhancement looks the same? “Our diverse bodies and faces are being compressed into a single look.” Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  confronts the digital flattening of beauty and individuality. In her Facetune Portraits  series, Gretchen Andrew confronts a growing phenomenon: the homogenization of beauty through algorithmic design. Her process begins with portraits of diverse women — Miss Nigeria, Miss Den

Each work in Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  is a confrontation between truth and technology. What begins as a simple portrait becomes an uneasy hybrid — part human, part machine. When AI tries to perfect the human image, the result isn’t harmony — it’s conflict. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  captures the exact moment when reality collides with desire. In these pieces, AI “enhancement” tools are pushed until they reveal their biases. The software stretches skin,

Every time we smooth a wrinkle or brighten a feature, we tell a story — one that says, “I need to be edited to be seen.” But what if those edits were permanent? Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  visualizes that haunting possibility. Using AI-driven tools designed to “enhance” beauty, she reimagines portraits of global beauty queens as algorithmically perfected versions of themselves. The results reveal the quiet violence of visual conformity — where individuality is sande