{
  "id": 13747072,
  "title": "Can a camera see past skintone? Angélica Dass, the artist who matched thousands of faces to Pantone colors, is shooting 100 portraits to find out",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/can-a-camera-see-past-skintone-angelica-dass-the-artist-who-matched",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-11T15:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Digital Camera World",
    "slug": "digital-camera-world",
    "url": "https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/photography/portrait-photography/can-a-camera-see-past-skintone-angelica-dass-the-artist-who-matched-thousands-of-faces-to-pantone-colors-is-shooting-100-portraits-to-find-out"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "For much of photographic history, cameras seldom treated human skin tones equally. Early reference cards showcased only white women, leading to chemical emulsions and exposure standards that favored these skin tones. Pictures of darker-skinned individuals were often underexposed, poorly balanced, or lacked distinct facial features. Kodak introduced multiracial reference cards in the mid-1990s, coinciding with the emergence of digital photography; however, this new technology did not automatically resolve the issue. Historical biases were merely incorporated into the sensors, algorithms, and editing software of the modern digital cameras. In recent years, fixes began to materialize, spearheaded by Google's Real Tone in 2021, followed swiftly by other smartphone manufacturers.\n\nThis context sets the stage for Angélica Dass's two-year project, \"100 Portraits of Becoming,\" funded by TECNO. The project spans Kenya, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Brazil. While the campaign appears to be a marketing exercise, presented as branded posters adorned with logos and quotes, Dass's artistic vision and the questions she poses are of substantial significance. With her previous project, \"Humanæ,\" Dass successfully demonstrated that no one is truly \"white\" or \"black,\" as these labels appear quite odd when viewed in the actual skin colors of people.\n\nFor the current project, Dass captured the first 20 portraits outdoors in Kenya, against vibrant fabrics. Each image is accompanied by a first-person story about the subject. For instance, Alex Mutua Muli recounts witnessing a neighbor cut down an entire mango orchard at the age of 14 due to a lack of market. Despite the urging to move to the city, Muli chose to stay and co-founded a company transforming local produce into dried fruit for larger markets. Jelimo Cheboi initiated skateboarding in 2022, transforming a WhatsApp group into a thriving community. Brian Muchiri discusses refusing to be defined by his wheelchair, while Phillip Mbuthia Ranja, a multi-disciplinary creator, credits his dyslexia with enabling him to perceive the world differently. Jack Guo, TECNO's general manager, emphasizes the importance of fair and accurate representation in the AI era, attributing this to the need for representation that is both fair and accurate. Dass underscores that this project is fundamentally about people, not merely technology. In Kenya, she observed that meaningful portraits are never generated by technology alone; they require trust, listening, and the generosity of the individuals who agree to pose for the camera. The camera, in this endeavor, serves merely as a tool to share these encounters.",
  "summary": "This five-country project raises questions about how cameras depicts people with different skin tones",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}