Acne. From cystic spots to whiteheads, it tends to be something of a scourge for people who live with it, and for a select number of us, countless dermatologist appointments, strict skincare routines and diet changes can be fruitless.

But photographer and illustrator Peter DeVito, is on hand to show us that acne is something we shouldn’t be embarrassed of.

DeVito has recently taken Instagram by storm with his raw and completely unretouched close-ups of his acne-prone skin and we’re 100% on board with the new era of skin positivity that he’s subsequently ushering in. 

In one selfie, DeVito adhered stickers to his skin, that read ‘I’m so f*cking sick and tired of the Photoshop’. Another reads, ‘Acne is normal.’ The pictures have racked up over 16K likes and counting since he posted them to his Instagram page.

In a recent telephone interview with i-D, DeVito lifted the lid on what drove him to create the candid portrait series.

“I was motivated by body positive posts on social media, but I thought there was a lack of visibility for people with acne, so I wanted to create some posts for them,” he said. 

When asked why acne in particular, DeVito said that it was because he grew up with it.

“I’ve had it since I was in middle school. I was hoping to show people that getting acne is normal because people never say it is normal. Instead, commercials always tell you how you can get rid of it. People always assume that it’s just kids that get acne, but they need to make a statement how adults get it too.”

“Social media makes people compare themselves to others,” he added, “and because Instagram is so picture-based it’s really apparent.”

Moved by DeVito’s photos, model and actress Cara Delevingne even re-reposted one to her 41M followers alongside the caption, ‘It’s so wrong that if I had taken that picture of myself, then I wouldn’t have posted it #repost @freethenipple @suffocate. ️Thank you to women who are brave. Shot by @peterdevito.’

Peter, we salute you.

Read how four Stylist contributors finally learned how to accept their acne-prone skin.

Images: Getty / Instagram