17th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Altered Images
Failed Anthropometry : Social Inmate 01_ South African

Who has the rights to my Face? What does it mean to Identify one without a Face? I discern faceless people everywhere. I am surrounded by them & I am one of them. If you want to see my face, add me on one of many social media accounts, We can find it in a second! They own my Facial rights, not me. The User Agreement has been signed. - Aishwarya Keshav, Social Inmate 00. Facial recognition technology has transformed our Faces into numerical trackable global data. Our facial Maps are saved, sold & manipulated without our consent, globally. A system once developed to record criminals, is now used on the masses. It is being refined to read our Emotions, Sexual orientation, mental capabilities, etc. This mass larceny of biometric data is a violation of our human rights. In years to come, we will lose sight of how it feels to be in urban spaces without being promptly profiled.  This series, comments on this critical issue through a delirious composite of photographs. The front & side profiles of our Face encompasses all essential information one requires to identify a person, an invention of Alphonso Bertillon, a facial analysis pioneer. By taking this information from a group of individuals, I composed a Portrait for the Man Without a Face. Us. This portrait now contains our identity, Yet preserves it. Failure of Anthropometry, A win for Man.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 09.2019
Date Uploaded: 10.2019
Photo Location: new york, New York, United States of America
Copyright: © Aishwarya Keshav