Weir looks at the gap between the real body and the manufactured body. She mixes photographs of herself, sex dolls, artificial skin, prosthetics, bodily fluids and traditionally “beautiful” imagery. We are taken aback in questioning what parts of our mind decides what is beautiful and if through the right vision can we shape anything to be so?

The book is particularly interested in the way contemporary beauty has become artificial and performative, especially through fashion, cosmetic procedures and social media.

Weir describes being surrounded by images of beautiful people through her work in fashion. She sees this as a kind of trap: you can recognise that the standards are unhealthy or unrealistic, but you still feel pressure to participate in them.

Before Beauty Papers, Weir was known for photographing other people’s bodies, but she had never really put herself in front of the camera. 

This was her first project in which she essentially makes herself the subject, but she doesn’t present herself straightforwardly. She hides, alters and distorts herself. So even when we’re looking at Harley, we’re often not really being given access to “Harley”. We’re looking at a constructed version of her.