The Scars Left by the Pursuit of Perfection: Erik Kessels's 'Destroy My Face'

Dutch visual artist Erik Kessels's installation 'Destroy My Face' poses sharp questions to a contemporary society where plastic surgery addiction and image manipulation have become normalized. Exhibited at Skatepark Pier15 in Breda, the Netherlands, the work features large-format prints of faces distorted by excessive cosmetic procedures laid across the floor, designed to be gradually worn down as skaters traverse them. It visualizes the irony that the obsession with perfection ultimately destroys the self.

Unfolding over six weeks, the project reveals the ephemerality of images through uncontrollable movement and the traces of time. The faces scratched and peeled by skateboard wheels symbolize self-representation in the social media age and the anxiety beneath it. Through the message "They only wanted to be more beautiful, but ended up more broken," Kessels critiques the distorted standards of beauty created by appearance-obsessed culture and digital filter phenomena.

An advertising photographer and conceptual artist, Kessels is well known for recontextualizing everyday images. 'Destroy My Face' stands as one of his signature works, asking what true self-acceptance means in a society where the boundary between reality and the represented self has blurred. The unconventional exhibition space of a skatepark adds unpredictability and physical destruction to the piece, demanding both a powerful visual experience and deep reflection from viewers.