Creepy Project Removes Skin From World Leaders 'To Show We’re All Human'

“Through stripping away this outer layer of skin, this one millimeter that encases us all, we are all the same inside.”

One millimeter of skin. That’s all that is preventing world peace – or, at least, that is how it would seem. Sometimes, it seems incomprehensible that even in 2017, humans wage war on each other based on the amount of melanin in one’s skin. It’s for this reason that artists Marcus Byrne and Alex Wadelton collaborated to create the project “One Millimeter”.

The Behance website reads:

“In a time dominated by US President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un ramping up missile tests, and Vladimir Putin’s nationalist fervour, racial tensions have never been higher globally.

The artworks are designed to make the viewer think about looking past the colour of skin, ethnic background, gender, or political belief. We are all members of the same race – the human race.

We should all treat each other with respect. The images show how fragile humanity is.

Through stripping away this outer layer of skin, this one millimeter that encases us all, we are all the same inside.”

According to Byrne’s post on Bored Panda, Wadelton was watching the news one night when he was struck by the fact that the only thing preventing humans from empathizing and caring for others is one millimeter of skin. Reportedly, Byrne was interested in the idea right away and spent several days experimenting with various techniques to create the portraits below.

“We wanted to show how fragile humanity is. There’s so much negativity in the world at the moment, we thought that through stripping away this outer layer of skin, this one millimeter that encases us all, we could show how we are all the same inside,” says Byrne. “Each artwork was a labour of love. I experimented with many techniques to ensure that even with the removal of skin, you could immediately tell who each world leader was. The result is a series that is unlike any other.