by Dr Ila Tyagi

How much do the selfies you post online really look like you? How truthful are the pictures you see around you of other people? The inauthenticity of representations of the human face has been a problem for centuries, from excessively flattering oil paintings of noblewomen in the 1500s to deepfake videos of celebrities and political leaders today. By reviewing the 2,000-year tradition of representing faces in art, this course seeks to contextualize facial representations in technology, helping students grapple with the challenge posed by how easily those representations can be manipulated to enhance beauty or falsify identity.