vaguesteph newsletter: face filters
“call to action/ HELVETICA BOLD OBLIQUE”
Here’s all the texts cited in this:
- Vision and difference: Feminity, Feminism, and Histories of Art, Griselda Pollock, p. 121 f. - Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud, p. 43 f. - Beautiful Fighting Girl, Saito Tamaki - The Body and the Archive, Allan Sekula, p. 54
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Drawing a Dialogue: History of Racism + Physiognomy in Cartooning is a good podcast episode about physiognomy (the pseudo-science that claims “beautiful face” = “good person”) in relation to cartooning! I feel like I’ve linked this 1.000 times by now, haha.
For a little bit more about Galton’s composite photographs, look at http://galton.org/composite.htm - I took the smallest quote from Body and the Archive possible that worked with the comic.
These early attempts to categorize “good” faces vs. “criminal” and/or “(mentally) ill” faces can be linked to facial recognition in a way that makes my stomach turn. Like Berlin’s public transport company’s Women’s Day campaign that used facial recognition to give people the algorithm recognized as “women” cheaper tickets (alluding to the gender pay gap). Or attempts to train AI to recognize “gay” faces. Etc, etc.
This comic & these connections are indepted to artist and researcher Eva Egermann who publishes Crip Magazine. I was so happy to participate in a class she taught on crip theory a few weeks ago! :-) If you can read German, def. look at her work.
Thank you for reading! I’m looking forward to sending out something new on Sunday!
*if you want to talk to me or comment on anything, reply to this newsletter or email me at vaguesteph @ gmail.*