Light is the specter that hovers around photographic technologies. From analog to digital and from light-sensitive coating to computer algorithms, light always occupies an irreplaceable place in competing image-making technologies. Throughout the process of negotiating with light, however, it cannot be disputed that white supremacy in this competition has “unconsciously” and “imperceptibly” shaped human prejudices. Jean-Luc Godard was one of the first white persons to (self-)reflect on this crisis in the discourses of the former west. When he was invited to Mozambique to assist in the country’s image development in 1977–78, he realized that Kodak films that were mainstream at the time could not be accurately exposed for portraits featuring subjects of dark skin tones. We cannot simply attribute this technical failure to inadequate equipment, since even the most advanced algorithms in use today still show a rather high error rate when determining certain groups of people and their skin tones.
Funded by:
