“Beauty comes in a million shades,” writes photographer Sara Melotti, creator of the project Quest for Beauty. Melotti is traveling the world, photographing women of all nations and ages to show one overarching truth: that we are all beautiful. She wants to reclaim the word “beauty,” disentangling it from narrow standards of media-dictated physical perfection. “I think the world—especially the western one—forgot what Beauty really is,” Melotti writes in her artist’s statement. “Quest For Beauty is an actual quest around the globe to rediscover the meaning of this magical word.”
Her goal is to visit twenty countries. She’s been to seven so far: Morocco, The Alps, Mexico, Cuba, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and the U.S. In each place, she’s asked women five questions:
1. What is Beauty?
2. What’s the most beautiful thing in the world to you?
3. What makes a woman beautiful?
4. What makes a woman unbeautiful?
5. Do you feel beautiful?
You can read some of the answers here.
Below, see Melotti’s gorgeous photographs, and follow the journey of her project. She hopes this journey will “remind us to find acceptance and pride in the way we look and to love ourselves for who we are. Our uniqueness is, in my opinion, the best asset we have and there’s nothing more beautiful than being our beautifully unique selves!”
Check out more at Quest for Beauty’s website.
Follow Sara on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Images via Sara Melotti
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