Alice Fang – Looking Outwards – 10

Nancy Burson is an artist and photographer who uses morphing technology and digital manipulation in her works, which are often politically and/or socially charged. One project of hers that I am particularly interested in is Human Race Machine, which I think is extremely relevant in the current political climate as well. Originally, she created a software that would ‘age’ an image in order to track missing children for law enforcement; using similar software in facial recognition and facial alteration, this project is an interactive display which allows the user to see what they could look like if they were of a different race. As described on its website, “the concept of race is not genetic, but social”– her project is an extremely powerful tool for social reflection, and discussing diversity and issues of race of ethnicity. Although this was originally created in 2000 for the London Millennium Dome, the elegant software used to shift and change a human face and place oneself in the literal ‘face’ of another is still pertinent today, as human compassion and understanding is challenged by polarization and radical idealism.