HSIEH
PEI-TING
Anonymous, 2020
Mixed media
The Anonymous series evolved from the That People series. The portraits in this work are also captured from Google Earth’s Street View using screenshots as the photographic method. The depiction of individuals here is starkly different from traditional portrait photography, which was closely related to early developments in photography. This purely mechanical gaze is entirely unconscious.
In response to privacy regulations, Google's automated detection system blurs each face. While these identities seem lost, they are far from being "untraceable." Scanning the QR Code above the blurred faces—an action that must be performed ceremoniously, with hands raised overhead—will return viewers to the location where the artist encountered and photographed them. It is as if these individuals are frozen in time, while the artist's series of actions and the shooting are meticulously recorded and located within a specific URL. This work not only explores screenshots as a form of photography but also magnifies distant figures, akin to close-up shots, attempting to evoke the momentary uncertainty of human identity. It invites contemplation of issues related to human existence, visibility, and identity politics within the context of data networks.
The work is presented in an ornate vintage frame, contrasting the technological imagery with its form.