Vintage Photos Get A Glitchy Facelift In Distorx

To sit through an entire news broadcast, you have to be slightly insane. It's hard to genuinely want to know everything that's going on in the world right now because most of it is frankly terrible: war, corrupt leaders, death… ooh, Ryan Lochte! But honestly, things are pretty bad and Mexican artist CILER is making the best of it.

In his most recent photo series, Distorx, CILER finds archival news headlines and photographs, then mangles their messages using a small scanner. His images address war, sex, death, beauty, and fashion, among other themes that remain relevant in contemporary culture, though the original images—featuring Soviet troops and girls showing off mod fashions—are quite old.

A number of the Distorx subjects look like their expressions are melting off, or as though they've taken digital cigarette burns to the face. Some have been warped in such a way that it's hard to tell they're even human. CILER says the objective of the series was to “question aesthetic stereotypes.” We say, “Mission accomplished.”

You can find more of CILER's found and messed-around-with images in The Gallery. Join now for the chance to be featured on our blog, website, and at our events.

@bmwertheim