May I introduce you to the new stunning book Trompe L’Oeil by Eylül Aslan?! Trompe L’Oeil means ‘a trick of the eye’. “The project was inspired by my curiosity about how beauty is perceived. What does beauty/ugliness mean, and how does it influence us in an era when we constantly curate our own appearance online?” says the artist about her new book.

Looking at profiles on Tinder, I noticed a pattern. People often chose to display a specific body part that they believed others would find especially beautiful.

Eylül Aslan – Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, where she went on to study French Language and Literature at Istanbul University, the photography artist Eylül Aslan eventually moved to Berlin, Germany where she continues to live and work. Her work has been published in numerous independent magazines and zines around the world.

“I met up with 20 men whom I’d met on Tinder, and asked them what their “most” and “least” beautiful body parts were. I photographed these parts of them, then asked them what they found most and least attractive about my body. Next, I took self-portraits of the parts of myself that the same men liked and disliked the most.

In the heavily curated world of online profiles, what remains of what is real and beautiful about our bodies? Who gets to set the standard? Is there even one?

Beauty is not a currency. How we see ourselves and how we are seen by others varies, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Through the eyes of another, every body part can acquire a new meaning, different than before… ” Eylül Aslan

Get the new book here: eylulaslan.com/shop/trompe-l-oeil

Trompe L’Oeil

25 cm x 30 cm

Photography book
Trompe L’Oeil
published by Eylül Aslan
printed in 2017, in Germany

450 editions
96 pages
80 photos

34 €