Mapping Hitler's ideal face/race

This piece was inspired by Trevor Paglen's exhibition 'Bloom', specifically his pieces 'The Standard Head' and 'A Standard Face'. These artworks explore the use of artificial intelligence and facial recognition, using things such as constructions of the 'standard face' to map every aspect of our lives, from our online presence to our physical movements and behaviours. I wanted to expand on the use of the face in influencing systems in societies, such as Hitler's obsession with categorizing people into categories based on their race, and even more simply their facial structure.

This series of drawings feature a baby and a soldier, both deemed as 'The Perfect Aryan' and used across Germany as propaganda for the faces of the 'master race'. Their faces were deemed perfect because of their Nordic features such as long skulls, blue eyes and light hair - anyone who didn't look like this were deemed as inferior. The central drawing is a diagram mapping the dimensions and proportions of 'a perfect face' and the other diagrams have been taken from Paglen's work mapping out a standard face.

What is ironic about the two Germans used as Nazi propaganda was that they were both Jewish, and so in bold across their faces I have written 'Herrenmenschen', the German word for gentlemen, but also used to describe those of the master race, but also written across their face more faintly is the word 'Untermenschen' meaning people of an inferior race/class.

I think that this piece is relatively successful as it tackles with sensitivity such a dark time in history, bringing to light the horrible use of the face to influence ideologies and bring about so much suffering. I think that the paper used greatly adds to the piece as it makes them look like official documents and diagrams and have an old feel to them suggesting that they could be from that time. When doing quick sketches and plans of this piece on plain paper it didn't have quite the same effect.

To take this piece further I could do more series looking at the use of the face in other parts of the world such as in South Korea and the pressure to look perfect and the normalization of plastic surgery.

Drawing and Conceptual Practice: Mapping

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