Thursday, December 29, 2022

Image rights and wrongs

Q: When is a photo not a photo? A: When it's been created by artificial intelligence.

Whatever you think of Siobhan Walker's images of 1980s Glasgow, they're not photographs and they don't make her a photographer.

And even if you choose to credit her as an artist and think that authenticity is problematic or overrated, there's something deeply distasteful and ethically dubious about someone based in London who has visited Glasgow only a few times using this technology to create depictions of working-class life that are deliberately designed to dupe the viewer into thinking they're of real people.

If you want a vivid portrayal of Glasgow in this period, explore the work of Douglas Corrance or  Raymond Depardon - or read (as I currently am) Douglas Bain's Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, inspired by Depardon's photos.

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