What is beauty? Mihaela Noroc a Romanian photographer has travelled the world photographing beautiful women of all sizes, shapes and ethnicities for her Atlas of Beauty Campaign. Now she’s launched an Indiegogo campaign so you can pick her next destinations
What does beauty really mean to you? To Mihaela Noroc, a 29 year old photographer from Romania, it means diversity. Beauty is something that exists in everyone, she believes, regardless of what’s trending at the moment. Mihaela is particularly interested in women who have a strong bond to their cultural roots, which is reflected in her photographic project, The Atlas of Beauty.
MORE: We asked women how they define beautiful
Mihaela quit her job to travel the world and capture beauty from all continents, apart from Antarctica. The outcome of her journey around the globe is a series of portraits of women, each beautiful in their own way. The Atlas of Beauty shows women from all different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The 29 year old photographer says that she hopes that we will never aim to all look the same way. ‘Everyone should cultivate their own beauty rather than copying something’ says Mihaela ‘because the original is better than a copy’.
Mihaela has visited 37 countries so far and has encountered beautiful women in all of them. She shot photographs in Brazilian Favelas, rough neighbourhoods in Columbia, in the Amazon rainforest and many other incredible places. Sometimes she only has 30 seconds to make a portrait when she meets a woman by chance on the street. The number of beautiful women of all ages, ethnicities, cultures and religions Mihaela encountered is astonishing. ‘Maybe in 50 years all women from all around the world will dress and act the same’ she say, ‘I hope my project will remain a witness of my era’s cultures and traditions’.
Being on this journey has taught the photographer that ‘beauty is everywhere, and it’s not a matter of cosmetics, money, race or social status, but about being yourself,’ she said.
Mihaela wants to continue working on her project to collect enough material to turn The Atlas of Beauty into a book.
The photographer recalls the challenges she faced during the production of the project. ‘In my previous journey creating The Atlas of Beauty I had dangerous moments, hard days of working, exhausting routes, unfriendly viruses,’ Mihaela says ‘but I would do it again, with all my passion if people will support me’.
The 29 year old photographer says she hopes that we will never aim to all look the same way because ‘the original is better than a copy’
In order to continue her portraiture series Michaela has started a crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo, where people who contribute can decide on her next destinations. Where would you like her to go next? To support Mihaela click here.
To find out more about Mihaela Noroc and her photographs visit her website follow her on Instagram or Twitter.
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