The greatest perfection is imperfection.

To Aristotle perfect meant complete, nothing to add or subtract. To Empedocles perfection depends on incompleteness since the latter possesses a potential for development and improvement. Here lies the paradox formulated by Italian Renaissance philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini. The paradox of perfection is that imperfection is perfect.

I travelled around Italy researching imperfect beauties in six different non-conventional beauty pageants and applying a color symbolism to each one:

Miss Chubby, pink as softness;
Miss Trans, purple as transformation;
Miss Mediterranea, yellow as youth;
Miss Plastic Surgery, fuchsia as sensual;
Miss Drag Queen, orange as vibrant;
Miss Over, blue as wisdom.

Six imperfect beauties (due to their weight, clothes, excess of silicone, or age) if compared to the typology of beauty imposed by mass media and the consumerist society we live in. In Italy, in particular, beauty has become a political tool during the Berlusconi era. Since the 80’s, his media empire has introduced a culture of luxury and sex to shape his electorate. Italy became in the mean time a country where half-naked beautiful women are plucked from TV studios and elevated into powerful positions. This culture has generated an unprecedented wave of castings and beauty pageants for girls and women of all ages all over Italy.

In response to the aesthetic and political state of my country, I worked on Perfect, a series of 36 photographs focusing on how the beauty dictated by our politicized consumerist society is emulated by the masses, and on the link between imperfection and perfection.

Carneval at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Italy.