This was a submission I did for a contest about humanity.

The title, 'Skin Deep' of course refers to the common phrase 'beauty is only skin deep' meaning, a beautiful face can sometimes hide an ugly inside. It is a common truth in our world and a very 'human' condition, appropriate for the contest.

I'm certainly not saying that my model here, Olya, has an ugly inside, in fact she is a very sweet and beautiful person but that beauty was an ideal opposite to the inner ugliness I wanted to show in this image. I was also sure to make her surroundings and accessories as 'sweet' as possible so that the difference between the outside and inside was clear.

What I find interesting about this image is that it can be very hard to look at. Our brains are so instilled with the image of what a face looks like that to see it split apart like this is very confusing to the eye.