GENEALOGY: COLOUR TEST CARDS

WRITTEN (THEORY)

>>> APPROP/R/PIRATE
>>> BEHIND WHITE SHADOWS (OF IMAGE PROCESSING) (2017)
>>> ADDENDUM (2017)


ARTWORKS (PRACTICE)

>>> Pique Nique pour les Inconnues (2017 - 2020) 
>>> 365PERFECT and the i.R.D DE/CALIBRATION ARMY (2019 - ...) 
>>> PATCH (for the DE/CALIBRATION ARMY) (2017) 




Over the years, I have found many different instantiations of imagery of my face used without permission or accreditation. > here is a small collection of examples.

I believe and publish with a Copy <it> Right ethic:

“First, it’s okay to copy! Believe in the process of copying as much as you can; with all your heart is a good place to start – get into it as straight and honestly as possible. Copying is as good (I think better from this vector-view) as any other way of getting ‚’there.’ ”
NOTES ON THE AESTHETICS OF ‘copying-an-Image Processor– Phil Morton (1973).

To me, this means that copying as a creative, exploratory, and educational act is free and encouraged, provided proper accreditation is given. However, when copying transforms into commodification and profit is anticipated, explicit permission must be sought, and compensation may be requested.
 
However, unfortunately, I have been finding my face on many different commercial objects, commodified and without accreditation. Which led me to consider if there were maybe historical precedents, and what does it mean to lose your own face?
During my research I came across the stories of color test cards, the images of Caucasian ladies, used to calibrate color of analogue and digital image processing technologies. Some of these ladies have been used over and over, but very little, sometimes not even their name, is known about them. 


This research resulted in the essay “Behind White Shadows,” which was published in:

Behind White Shadows essay for solo show (TRANSFER gallery, NY, 2017)
Faceless, De Gru
yter, 2018 (ed: Bogomir Doringer)
Performing the System (ed: Nora Brünger, Luzi Gross, Torsten Scheid: 2019, Universitätsverlag Hildesheim)
Computer Grrls (ed. Inke Arns, HMKV, 2021)

Behind White Shadows was also featured in the Cyberfeminism Index (ed. Mindy Sue, 2023)