From high BMI to the ‘GLP-1 look’: how weight-loss jabs are changing the face of beauty

Researchers and art historians are examining how weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro are reshaping ideals of beauty in art. Prof. Rosalind Gill and Dr. Michael Yafi argue that the rapid fat loss caused by GLP-1 medications produces a distinctive gaunt facial appearance—dubbed 'GLP-1 face'—which could become a new aesthetic standard reflected in contemporary art, similar to 'heroin chic' in the 1990s. Yafi presented his findings at the European Congress on Obesity, noting that while artists like Fernando Botero continue to celebrate fuller figures, future artworks may increasingly depict thin individuals with hollowed features.

Dolce Vita is Over

Dolce Vita war gestern

Andrea Modica's new photobook "Italian Story" collects four decades of photographs taken in Italy, beginning with her first trip there in the late 1980s. Born in 1960 to a family with roots in Sicily and Naples, Modica received a Fulbright scholarship to travel to Sicily and photograph the origins of the Catholic imagery, gender roles, and family structures she experienced growing up in New York. The book, however, is not a documentary of her heritage; instead, it presents dreamlike, surreal images—motionless bodies in water, dead fish, figures behind mosquito nets, Madonna statues—that resist clear narrative or identity politics. Modica works with an 8x10 large-format analog camera and prints using the historic platinum-palladium process, giving the images a timeless, collaborative quality.

The diaries of Czech photographer Josef Koudelka — ‘home doesn’t exist’

The Financial Times Visual Arts section publishes an article offering a compelling insight into the mind and process of Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, who documented the plight of people living on the edge of European society. The piece focuses on his diaries, revealing his personal reflections and artistic journey.