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This Project Proves That Beauty Has No Nationality

Beauty knows no nationality, and “The Ethnic Origins of Beauty” proves it. It’s a non-profit, artistic, documentary and research project dedicated to documenting the ethnic diversity of the human race by collecting images of different nationalities.

“To reach the hearts of the wider international and multicultural public, the language of beauty has been chosen,” reads the project’s website. “The objective of this project is to show the real scale of ethnocultural diversity in a full, systematic and creative way; to illustrate each and every distinctive ethnicity, however small it is, and whatever its official status.”

The author behind the project is Natalia Ivanova, a Russian photographer and photojournalist. So far she’s managed to gathered almost 100 photo and video portraits representing over 50 ethnic groups from 15 different countries across 4 continents, which is pretty impressive considering that the project only began in 2012. It was first officially presented at an exhibition devoted to International Women’s Day in March 2014 at its Parisian headquarters, and the project has also received the acknowledgment of UNESCO.

More info: The Ethnic Origins of Beauty | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube (h/t: brightside)

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POST

James Gasson 8 years ago

Beauty has no nationality, but apparently it does have an age, weight, gender and perfect skin.

130points

Hans 8 years ago

could not have said better!

15points

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Jane Sullivan 8 years ago

To me, it's just a demonstration of how examples of the current perception of beauty (basically the heart-shaped face) can be found in multiple ethnicities/countries. I don't see any deeper value in the exercise because of the narrowness of the criteria.

6points

Death Metal Kitty 8 years ago

I'm also quite certain that if you overlay the individual face over each other, you'll find their proportions would probably be within a very tight band of parameters with a small standard error.

2points

Suze DeVille 8 years ago

Spot on!

2points

seaufke 8 years ago

ikr!

2points

Ray K 8 years ago

My thoughts! And these are all "airbrushed" photoshopped and SELECTED representatives (model) of each country. Notice how none of them have thin lips too? ....

1point

Brianna Bastian 8 years ago

or filter

1point

Tzvetelina Aralova 8 years ago

well duh, this is determined by evolution you know

0points

Jean-Marc Dos Santos 8 years ago

Jew is not a race it's a religious denomination....just saying

76points

Tom 8 years ago

This is a screenshot from their website: jewish-57a...1d-png.jpg

10points

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Milos Momcilovic 8 years ago

so? Who ever said that these are races? All humans are one race.

5points

Jimmy R 8 years ago

Jewish people are descended from the Israelite tribe of Judah. Yes there are converts and yes there is a lot of dilution over the centuries, but it actually is largely an ethnic group as well as a religious one.

5points

Kristi Zoebelein 8 years ago

Yep, I was just coming to comment. To the person saying it is ethnic as well as religious...yes you're right, but this article seems to be about regions and countries around the world. "Jew" isn't a region, she could have literally been from anywhere around the world.

2points

P'tite Stéph 8 years ago

200% agreed!!!!

2points

John Nathan Neil Dion 8 years ago

Agree. Jews are genetically diverse as there's the Sephardi Jews from Spain and Portugal, the Askenazi Jews, and the Yemeni Jews

1point

Angélique 8 years ago

There's no races here, just ethnicities. Also, the Jewish religion is name after a specific people who lived in the Middle East. So being Jew can mean being a descendant of this people, or/and believing in the Jewish religion.

1point

Cesi Baca 8 years ago

Wow I totally missed that. What a bizarre category and so inaccurate. French is not a race either for that matter.

1point

John 8 years ago

You can be Jewish without practicing Judaism. "Jew" is probably not the best way to label the group, and it is technically not a nationality, but they are specific group of people with their own look.

0points

Lyone Fein 8 years ago

They should have had an Israeli instead of "Jew"...........but even that might not have made sense. That would be like trying to pick someone to represent an American. ......... Do you pick an Ashkenaz or an Ethiopian or someone who is from India?

0points

John L Kelly 8 years ago

Correct. And too, the entire set of pictures really have little to do with beauty. Beauty is an equation called the "Golden Ratio", or the "Fibonacci Equation". Its universal, and probably works throughout the entire universe. The math behind the beauty can be read right here: http://www.intmath.com/numbers/math-of-beauty.php

0points

LaDarryl Hollingsworth 8 years ago

I was JUST thinking that. SMH it stopped me dead in my tracks while reading.

0points

Ashob Ramesh (aschoo) 8 years ago

ethnoreligious people, so it's also a race

-1point

Daria B 8 years ago

Not sure... With all respect to the author and the good intentions, I don't see exactly how this is different from any Miss Universe contest...

27points

Randy Allos 8 years ago

It's not, but nowadays on boredpanda beauty and aesthetics don't seem to be enough, apparently people feel the need to always attach a social/environmental or some kind of politically correct agenda to their art to get more clicks...

2points

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Irena Dumitrascu 8 years ago

sick and tired of all the people complaining about useless stuff. Ohhh but all the girls are pretty and young! Pff where are the NORMAL girls! Ohhh the post insulted the jews...we are turning into a moaning bunch of idiots! Everything bothers us nowadays! Beauty actually exists in this world if you feel insulted by the mere existence of it then take your eyes out! And second people make mistakes even in published articles!

7points

Cesi Baca 8 years ago

This is a comments section, where people can comment and critique as they see fit. What I'm tired of is people like you who always pop up on comments pages and self righteously tell people to stop complaining and to not look if they don't like what they see. How about if you are tired of the comments your reading, YOU stop looking and go away.

4points

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Tzvetelina Aralova 8 years ago

Thank you Irena... we need to appreciate the beauty in this world!

0points

Wombat34 8 years ago

I agree but that's not what people are complaining about with this article. The originators are pretending to be doing something against racism but what they've actually done suggests that the idea that it doesn't matter what race you are - what really matters is if you're beautiful. A fairly objectionable message.

0points

Hanna 8 years ago

Thank you Irena. Finally someone makes sense!!!

0points

Richy Cook 8 years ago

Booo!

0points

James Kinahan 8 years ago

I don't think the French one looks typically french

7points

Sambor Ruciński 8 years ago

or german in that matter

0points

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Emma L 8 years ago

The French photo does not represent French features at all. Brown hair and eyes is what prevails in France.

3points

Meeow 8 years ago

What's the point to have all these beauty without the name, just the countries name? I can just copy an image on Google and said this is what I've done. I mean if you want the world to know your project, you should do it right.

2points

Marcos Laredo 8 years ago

Jew is not a Race... Semith would be the best choice for this...

2points

Rey De Vega 8 years ago

Obviously this campaign is saying everyone is beautiful.......everyone BUT Asians and Mexicans.......and Indians.

2points

Mika Alma 8 years ago

Beauty is not surface appearance. Beauty has depth...you are mistaking Beauty for Pretty.

2points

Choice Footwear 8 years ago

The name is Kikuyu not Kikouyu

2points

Greta J. 8 years ago

Thank you, we've fixed it!

1point

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Vanessa 8 years ago

Yeah but now occidental countries don't have "one color" anymore. But I agree, these women are all beautiful!

2points

James Jorell Aclao (JEMBOY) 8 years ago

Finn as the last one... I see what you did there

1point

Michelangelo 8 years ago

Didn't know Jew was a nationality

1point

Rézfaszú Bagó Lyukastorkú 8 years ago

Ingush and Tunisian <3

1point

Death Metal Kitty 8 years ago

Great job showing the world that beauty is defined by a very tight set of paramters of facial features, with small standard deviation from the average of this sampple. Therefore if you're not within the top 3% of each race, you're ugly? Great job.

1point

Notchimine Mette 8 years ago

Oh please. They all look South African to me... Xx

1point

David Elalouf 7 years ago

Jew is definitely not a nationality you can be jew and coming from any of those country. Very stupid .. why not add a portrait of a catholic, a muslim or a buddhist? WTF...

0points

Tricia Overstreet 8 years ago

Natalia Ivanova, Russian photographer and photojournalist. ... Splendid, Artful photography. You justly Offered Up an incredible glimpse/array of Such different Nationalities. Your idea of staying so close in age Reflected a Smooth Flow that Transitioned as an Entrancing Reflection of these Women from ALL over our Big Beautiful World

0points

Egržvýd Chálobodor 8 years ago

There are some truly ugly skanks though.

0points

Mary Stiles 4 years ago

Seriously? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!

0points

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Nour Dabbabi 8 years ago

This post is dumb , choosing models to show beauty is not the right thing to do that's 1st and second beauty lies in the street not in a studio.

0points

Mendi Morton 8 years ago

Look! The Better Had Mod 2.0 came out!

0points

Sambor Ruciński 8 years ago

how about polish? ;)

0points

Suzi Williamson 8 years ago

It's all in the eyes.

0points

Angie Chan 8 years ago

The evolution of beauty :)

0points

El Exterminador 8 years ago

It does have gender! thank goodness! and by the way, it is not JEW, but Israeli. And Jews girls are adorable!

0points

Monseg 8 years ago

They are all the same type, clearly chosen to the taste of the author. Not a very good example

0points

Logomachine 8 years ago

All this girls are amazing! And i fell in love with tunisian girl and i love the color of skin finn girl, its like pure snow!

0points

Justyna 8 years ago

i'm not sure we should determine which natural face is beautiful and which is not. i, for example, don't like full lips. the author apparently loves only full lips. some women would do everything to look like "beauties". why spoil the fact that we are different? and focus on beautiful personalities instead?

0points

Evan B 8 years ago

The way Bored Panda organized the photos by skin complexion is really cool and I think would have made a great project itself, sadly, that's not what the project was. I find a lot of fault with the intended project. Yet Bored Panda made it look good. Too bad the people behind the project didn't think more about what they were saying and showing.

0points

Mickey Eilon 8 years ago

Jew is not a country XD hehe jizz who made this article? and if you're trying to say Israel- it's half european people and half arabic. better put Bar Refaeli

0points

Luka Stanojević 8 years ago

Tunisian! ^_^

0points

Aleksandra Zi 8 years ago

eee? german dosn t look like german . Also french dosn t look like french..........This s a slavic type of beauty.

0points

Jonas Bohlin 8 years ago

This Project Proves That Beauty Is Overrated.

0points

Daryna Galitskaya 8 years ago

So where is Ukrainian ? ????

0points

John Nathan Neil Dion 8 years ago

There's no representation of the Austronesian Peoples (e.g. Atayal [Taiwanese Aboriginal], Malay-Indonesian, Filipino, Polynesian), the Thai-Kadai Peoples, the Papuans, the Australian Aboriginals, and the Sami of Finland

0points

Illumation Erwinus 8 years ago

Had the same idea a few years ago, "the beauties of different countries", a massive diptych of left:female and right:male. It never took of because it is very difficult to get pictures from all regions in the same style and quality.

0points

blomgren182 8 years ago

I will travel to germany thats for sure!

0points

Olohungbebe Hafisat Opeyemi 8 years ago

Definitely beauty is a natural gift not by race or country

0points

Demetris Christodoulides 8 years ago

Awesome. I am in love with everyone :)

0points

Nuwaira Ali 8 years ago

South America, Middle East, South Asia .. East Asia ??? Lacking diversity right now ????????

0points

Nuwaira Ali 8 years ago

No question marks at the end, why can't i edit my post after posting. Bored Panda get on it.

0points

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Sabrina Runcan 8 years ago

Beauty is all around us no matter of language,religion,nationality..beauty is found in every single person..

0points

Joanna Marchwiak 8 years ago

That is why all the international beauty contests are ridiculous

0points

Alan Aurmont 8 years ago

Can't find Jewstan on google. Anyone else?

0points

seaufke 8 years ago

they have a problem? ;D

0points

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Ana-Maria Lazar 8 years ago

On the same subject. Check this out: http://theatlasofbeauty.com/. An amazing project about the beauties of the world.

-1point

Cesi Baca 8 years ago

Half of these are not ethnic groups and especially, as one person already pointed out, the one labeled "Jew." I respect what she is trying to show and portray, but most people's understanding of race and ethnicity is so so wrong. The concept of race is really a false one. It's one race we just all come in different varieties, sort of like cats......tabbys, calico, grey, black, long hair, short hair..... all of them are still just cats.

-1point

Richy Cook 8 years ago

I've just witnessed a page of lots of lovely looking women.

-2points

ⵙⴰⵎⵉⴰ ⴰⵉⵜ ⴰⵎⵓⴷⴰ 8 years ago

Yet, jew is not a country, it's a religion ;)

-2points

szatan667 8 years ago

What that Jewish girl is doing there at the end? Too dark.......

-3points

Jody Kay Dorf 8 years ago

If your going to be a photojournalist of any kind you should understand the difference between ethnicity and race. If your from Israel you can be or Christian among other religions. Judaism (NOT JEW) is a religion.It is offensive. I think what you meant was Israeli.

-3points

Obay AlBitar 8 years ago

I can't believe i just read Jew! I even went to check if it's a short for a country or something i didn't know about! I can't believe you included Jew as a race you dumb a*s!

-3points

William Martinez 8 years ago

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ugaas wiilhoog 8 years ago

There are 5 Asians on the list.

3points

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ⵙⴰⵎⵉⴰ ⴰⵉⵜ ⴰⵎⵓⴷⴰ 8 years ago

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Alexander Schikora 8 years ago

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POST

James Gasson 8 years ago

Beauty has no nationality, but apparently it does have an age, weight, gender and perfect skin.

130points

Hans 8 years ago

could not have said better!

15points

Load More Replies...

Jane Sullivan 8 years ago

6points

Death Metal Kitty 8 years ago

I'm also quite certain that if you overlay the individual face over each other, you'll find their proportions would probably be within a very tight band of parameters with a small standard error.

2points

Suze DeVille 8 years ago

Spot on!

2points

seaufke 8 years ago

ikr!

2points

Ray K 8 years ago

My thoughts! And these are all "airbrushed" photoshopped and SELECTED representatives (model) of each country. Notice how none of them have thin lips too? ....

1point

Brianna Bastian 8 years ago

or filter

1point

Tzvetelina Aralova 8 years ago

well duh, this is determined by evolution you know

0points

Jean-Marc Dos Santos 8 years ago

Jew is not a race it's a religious denomination....just saying

76points

Tom 8 years ago

This is a screenshot from their website: jewish-57a...1d-png.jpg

10points

Load More Replies...

Milos Momcilovic 8 years ago

so? Who ever said that these are races? All humans are one race.

5points

Jimmy R 8 years ago

5points

Kristi Zoebelein 8 years ago

2points

P'tite Stéph 8 years ago

200% agreed!!!!

2points

John Nathan Neil Dion 8 years ago

Agree. Jews are genetically diverse as there's the Sephardi Jews from Spain and Portugal, the Askenazi Jews, and the Yemeni Jews

1point

Angélique 8 years ago

1point

Cesi Baca 8 years ago

Wow I totally missed that. What a bizarre category and so inaccurate. French is not a race either for that matter.

1point

John 8 years ago

0points

Lyone Fein 8 years ago

0points

John L Kelly 8 years ago

0points

LaDarryl Hollingsworth 8 years ago

I was JUST thinking that. SMH it stopped me dead in my tracks while reading.

0points

Ashob Ramesh (aschoo) 8 years ago

ethnoreligious people, so it's also a race

-1point

Daria B 8 years ago

Not sure... With all respect to the author and the good intentions, I don't see exactly how this is different from any Miss Universe contest...

27points

Randy Allos 8 years ago

2points

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Irena Dumitrascu 8 years ago

7points

Cesi Baca 8 years ago

4points

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Tzvetelina Aralova 8 years ago

Thank you Irena... we need to appreciate the beauty in this world!

0points

Wombat34 8 years ago

0points

Hanna 8 years ago

Thank you Irena. Finally someone makes sense!!!

0points

Richy Cook 8 years ago

Booo!

0points

James Kinahan 8 years ago

I don't think the French one looks typically french

7points

Sambor Ruciński 8 years ago

or german in that matter

0points

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Emma L 8 years ago

The French photo does not represent French features at all. Brown hair and eyes is what prevails in France.

3points

Meeow 8 years ago

2points

Marcos Laredo 8 years ago

Jew is not a Race... Semith would be the best choice for this...

2points

Rey De Vega 8 years ago

Obviously this campaign is saying everyone is beautiful.......everyone BUT Asians and Mexicans.......and Indians.

2points

Mika Alma 8 years ago

Beauty is not surface appearance. Beauty has depth...you are mistaking Beauty for Pretty.

2points

Choice Footwear 8 years ago

The name is Kikuyu not Kikouyu

2points

Greta J. 8 years ago

Thank you, we've fixed it!

1point

Load More Replies...

Vanessa 8 years ago

Yeah but now occidental countries don't have "one color" anymore. But I agree, these women are all beautiful!

2points

James Jorell Aclao (JEMBOY) 8 years ago

Finn as the last one... I see what you did there

1point

Michelangelo 8 years ago

Didn't know Jew was a nationality

1point

Rézfaszú Bagó Lyukastorkú 8 years ago

Ingush and Tunisian <3

1point

Death Metal Kitty 8 years ago

1point

Notchimine Mette 8 years ago

Oh please. They all look South African to me... Xx

1point

David Elalouf 7 years ago

Jew is definitely not a nationality you can be jew and coming from any of those country. Very stupid .. why not add a portrait of a catholic, a muslim or a buddhist? WTF...

0points

Tricia Overstreet 8 years ago

0points

Egržvýd Chálobodor 8 years ago

There are some truly ugly skanks though.

0points

Mary Stiles 4 years ago

Seriously? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!

0points

Load More Replies...

Nour Dabbabi 8 years ago

This post is dumb , choosing models to show beauty is not the right thing to do that's 1st and second beauty lies in the street not in a studio.

0points

Mendi Morton 8 years ago

Look! The Better Had Mod 2.0 came out!

0points

Sambor Ruciński 8 years ago

how about polish? ;)

0points

Suzi Williamson 8 years ago

It's all in the eyes.

0points

Angie Chan 8 years ago

The evolution of beauty :)

0points

El Exterminador 8 years ago

It does have gender! thank goodness! and by the way, it is not JEW, but Israeli. And Jews girls are adorable!

0points

Monseg 8 years ago

They are all the same type, clearly chosen to the taste of the author. Not a very good example

0points

Logomachine 8 years ago

All this girls are amazing! And i fell in love with tunisian girl and i love the color of skin finn girl, its like pure snow!

0points

Justyna 8 years ago

0points

Evan B 8 years ago

0points

Mickey Eilon 8 years ago

Jew is not a country XD hehe jizz who made this article? and if you're trying to say Israel- it's half european people and half arabic. better put Bar Refaeli

0points

Luka Stanojević 8 years ago

Tunisian! ^_^

0points

Aleksandra Zi 8 years ago

eee? german dosn t look like german . Also french dosn t look like french..........This s a slavic type of beauty.

0points

Jonas Bohlin 8 years ago

This Project Proves That Beauty Is Overrated.

0points

Daryna Galitskaya 8 years ago

So where is Ukrainian ? ????

0points

John Nathan Neil Dion 8 years ago

0points

Illumation Erwinus 8 years ago

0points

blomgren182 8 years ago

I will travel to germany thats for sure!

0points

Olohungbebe Hafisat Opeyemi 8 years ago

Definitely beauty is a natural gift not by race or country

0points

Demetris Christodoulides 8 years ago

Awesome. I am in love with everyone :)

0points

Nuwaira Ali 8 years ago

South America, Middle East, South Asia .. East Asia ??? Lacking diversity right now ????????

0points

Nuwaira Ali 8 years ago

No question marks at the end, why can't i edit my post after posting. Bored Panda get on it.

0points

Load More Replies...

Sabrina Runcan 8 years ago

Beauty is all around us no matter of language,religion,nationality..beauty is found in every single person..

0points

Joanna Marchwiak 8 years ago

That is why all the international beauty contests are ridiculous

0points

Alan Aurmont 8 years ago

Can't find Jewstan on google. Anyone else?

0points

seaufke 8 years ago

they have a problem? ;D

0points

Load More Replies...

Ana-Maria Lazar 8 years ago

On the same subject. Check this out: http://theatlasofbeauty.com/. An amazing project about the beauties of the world.

-1point

Cesi Baca 8 years ago

-1point

Richy Cook 8 years ago

I've just witnessed a page of lots of lovely looking women.

-2points

ⵙⴰⵎⵉⴰ ⴰⵉⵜ ⴰⵎⵓⴷⴰ 8 years ago

Yet, jew is not a country, it's a religion ;)

-2points

szatan667 8 years ago

What that Jewish girl is doing there at the end? Too dark.......

-3points

Jody Kay Dorf 8 years ago

-3points

Obay AlBitar 8 years ago

I can't believe i just read Jew! I even went to check if it's a short for a country or something i didn't know about! I can't believe you included Jew as a race you dumb a*s!

-3points