•Shelter

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Shelter by Anna Barea is the winner of the 2024 edition of BFF (; Best Friends Forever 😉 for photography and visual arts colleges held annually at Getxophoto. Barea’s project consists of research in the field of photography into possible DIY methods of circumventing video surveillance cameras connected to facial recognition technologies. Facial distortions are produced by using masks, wigs or everyday objects such as sticky tape or flashlights, rendering faces unrecognisable and causing system failures.

Facial recognition technology uses millions of facial images stored on databases, often without the consent or even knowledge of individuals. These images, classified using criteria that reproduce class, race or other biases, are compared with those recorded by video surveillance cameras to compile lists of people suspected of crimes or infractions. For human rights organisations, these technologies violate basic principles such as the presumption of innocence, by favouring accusations or convictions without real evidence, based exclusively on results produced by algorithms.

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Born in Esparreguera, Barcelona, in 2002, Anna Barea is a photographer specializing in exploring the limits of society and pushing them to their most dystopian extreme. From an early age, she showed a deep interest in Photography, which led her to study at the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya (IEFC). Her career began in fashion portraiture, but she soon decided to merge it with another of her interests: the most controversial aspects of society. Currently, she develops new projects that allow her to research and experiment with complex social issues, especially those where the balance between legitimate use and technological abuse is blurred. Her series Shelter was selected for the fourth edition of BFF (; Best Friends Forever ;), photography meeting of Spain and Portugal gathering, and will be exhibited at Getxophoto 2025.