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This Is What Beauty Looks Like Around the WorldPhotographer Mihaela Noroc's "The Atlas of Beauty" is the best portrait of diversity we've ever seen |
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Most of us fall into the former category. We swim in the deep end of our lives, rarely taking a moment to catch an aerial view not only of our own lives, but also of those we'd otherwise never get the chance to see.
Mihaela Noroc is an observer. She's a photographer, so in a way she has to be. But this visionary's ability to see into the heart of people goes far deeper than her lens. For 15 months, from summer 2013 until late last year, 30-year-old Noroc traveled by land and sea across 30-some countries, photographing women all over the world as a part of a project called "The Atlas of Beauty."
Part one of Noroc's project is now finished. Her stunning portraits capture young women spanning oceans, cultures and seemingly eras. From the streets of Harlem to mosques in Iran, temples in Tibet, rural villages in her home country of Romania and beyond, Noroc's Atlas is onto something big.
"The idea [for the project] came to me in Ethiopia on a trip with my husband," Noroc says. "The women there were a mix of all types, some Arab faces, some African faces, but what struck me was that the women retained their traditional fashions and traditional ways — they did not participate in the modern world."
Noroc says that beauty and diversity are synonymous. She aims to document the distinct faces of beauty on Earth — every age, ethnicity and ethos — so that as the world becomes increasingly homogenized, there will be a record of this colorful human map.
Scroll forward to step behind Noroc's lens. Take a moment to live as the observer. What you'll find is nothing short of extraordinary.
Image via Mihaela Noroc
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