«[…] a hand-made numerical transposition of the color code of every single pixel of an ID photo downloaded from the internet. A modus operandi that refers more to the behavior of a machine than to that of a human being. The individual color codes of the individual pixels have been reported – square by square – on a common squared sheet. Each square, containing a hand-written 4-digit number, corresponds to the given color of the respective pixel belonging to the downloaded photo-card. Carry out this operation by hand, even if it is a very small image (59 by 65 pixels): it means individually checking to which decoding number (or coding if you prefer) corresponds to each pixel, and – after which – report the datum checked on a checkered sheet, square by square. This sequence of operations repeated – in this case – for 3835 times. Despite the decoding operation of colored pixels in numbers, you can still see a face – the face of the ID photo of the downloaded digital image – in the table that comes out of this process of operations. This is because the numerical code written in pen on every single square is, however, a visual sign; if a sign corresponds to one color and another sign to another color (with relative different luminous intensities), by correspondences in the formation of the table (image), we will be able to glimpse the face of the photograph despite the decoding. We write a grid table of numerical data, but we can still read an image of it “.
Using these methodologies, I also managed to carry out several workshops at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts (Milan) where I did the same operation to the photography students, who copied their passport photos by hand in these ways.
Observing the way in which my students filled out the squared sheet containing all the numbers relative to the color codes of the individual pixels that made up their own photo card, it denotes that the graphic line they possess, the different line with which they have written the numbers of the color codes, make that also the final image emerges through different modalities.