This post contains nudity.

Phillip Toledano's series A New Kind of Beauty, is a harrowing look at individuals who go through an extreme amount of plastic surgery to modify their bodies.

"I’m interested in what we define as beauty, when we choose to create it ourselves. Beauty has always been a currency, and now that we finally have the technological means to mint our own, what choices do we make?"

The series started when Toledano photographed a man who had gone through multiple plastic surgeries, he followed connections that were made during the assignment and the series grew during 2008-2010. His approach to capturing the manipulated human forms is more of a traditional portraiture. There are heavy influences from the Renaissance painters, particularly to Hans Holbein the Younger, a German painter who has been credited as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century.

"When we re-make ourselves, are we revealing our true character, or are we stripping away our very identity?"

To find more about this project visit mrtoledano.com. A New Kind of Beauty is available for purchase through Amazon.

Via Slate.com