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Photography and the Glitch
  • ISSN: 2040-3682
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3690

Abstract

‘I am not data’ has been produced in collaboration with a creative coder from the Netherlands. Over a period of six months around 4600 images were chosen from approximately 20,000 images of LatinX femmes. The images were then fed into a generative adversarial network (GAN) simulation that produced this film. The resulting work seeks to elucidate a process of lumping together foreign bodies as a method of amalgamation that works to create ‘new’ information. It exists in tandem with ‘Second Nature’, a body of work on Mexican femme bodies and algorithmic web searches, from which some images are included in this article. The process behind the GAN used for this film becomes a mere reference to a human shape. Its processes of synthesis work as a metaphor for systems of human classification in which the bodies of foreigners become fuel for monstrous stereotypes. There is a sense of history repeating itself through the ways that these technological tools are used in artificial intelligence (AI) which launches questions regarding equality and progress in pursuit of social justice.

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2024-03-19
2024-04-27
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‘I am not data’: A GAN simulation in tandem with Second Nature
Philosophy of Photography 14, 271 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/pop_00086_7
/content/journals/10.1386/pop_00086_7
/content/journals/10.1386/pop_00086_7
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  • Article Type: Other
Keyword(s): algorithms; bias; classification; gender; generative adversarial network (GAN); search engines; stereotypes

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