Russian soldiers write home while serving on the Eastern Front during World War I, circa 1915. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Primary school students write Chinese character “Ren”, meaning “human being”, during the First Writing Ceremony, a traditional education activity, on September 6, 2023 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Daniel Ricciardo performs alongside Michael Kneightley in an RAAF F/A-18 Hornet at RAAF Base in East Sale, Victoria, Australia on March 12th, 2014. (Photo by Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool)

Jakub Przygonski at the stage 1 of Dakar Rally, Pisco, Peru on January 7, 2019. (Photo by Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool)

Queen Elizabeth II (as Princess Elizabeth) writing at her desk in Windsor Castle, Berkshire. (Photo by Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Getty Images). 30th May 1944

All the people we meet, all the things we know, and all of our experiences shape our souls, forever marking our faces. This was probably the main idea of the performance piece created by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, in which his face was painted over by three calligraphers with the names of people he knew, personal stories, and random thoughts. Truly, it amazing just how much we can find out about a person just by looking at their face. Surely, not everyone has the ability to see into the soul of the person just by looking at their face, but those that do can easily see the person’s personality, their intelligence, and sometimes even get glimpse into their past. Though it sounds like magic to people who don’t have this ability, it is completely true. Somehow, our mind can pick up on the miniscule changes of the facial structure and figure out the dominant facial expressions of that person. (Photo by Zhang Huan)

As part of FLAIR Melbourne – a Flinders Lane art festival – Melbourne’s Lisa Minogue presents stylised photographic portraits of Australian women of colour, their faces painted vibrantly to accentuate their individuality and encourage the viewer to study each face more closely. Minogue asked each woman the same question: “What do the words “coloured girl” mean to you?”. (Photo by Lisa Minogue/The Guardian)

In this April 16, 2015 photo, costume jewelry is on display for sale at al-Aqeeliya open-air auction market in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A man came with the suitcase full of beaded jewelry and sold the whole bag to the auction winner, who had just a few moments to inspect its contents before buying. (Photo by Hasan Jamali/AP Photo)