Food for thought
Filters Really Aren’t Anything New.
Want to see how we approach our imagery? Click Here.
Author Jey L. May 12, 2026
Humans have always curated themselves. Technology just made the process frictionless.
For as long as humans have been trying to impress each other, we’ve been editing reality.
Long before Instagram filters, royalty were commissioning flattering portrait painters to paint their heirs before sending the works across Europe in search of suitable marriages. These paintings weren’t just portraits. They were marketing tools, even political packaging, versions of reality at a time when marriage built bonds between nations.
One of the most famous examples involves Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. The story goes that after seeing her portrait, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry was less than impressed when they finally met in person. Historians still debate how exaggerated the story became over time, but the idea stuck and today it feels strangely familiar.
It’s probably not even the earliest example of catfishing, but it’s one that comes to mind.
Of course, painters weren’t trying to deceive outright.
Of course, painters weren’t trying to deceive outright. Their job was often to soften flaws, improve posture, brighten skin, slim features, or project power and health. Sounds strangely familiar doesn’t it?
Today, filters do the same thing, just instantly and at scale. A little skin smoothing becomes has now become facial reconstruction. A subtle adjustment becomes an entirely different jawline. Weight changes… Eye reshaping, today AI enhancement is fast creating entirely synthetic beauty standards.
And somewhere in all of this sits an uncomfortable question:
When does tidying-up stop being presentation… and start becoming deception?
Humans have always curated themselves
Humans have always curated themselves, I’m sure the earliest cave painters, Assyrian relief carvers and the sculptors of ancient Greece had flattery as a part of the recording process. So it isn’t really anything new.
What’s changed is how frictionless the process has become, that we aren’t using the eye of an artist, but a slider on a phone… and how easy it is to mistake the edited version for the real thing. At least online.
Today, the brushstroke has just became an algorithm, but we really haven’t changed much.