Behind White Shadows
The jpeg image compression technology is one of the most archaic, but at the same time most contemporary artifacts from the realm of image processing. The algorithm still - since its release in 1992 - absolutely dominates the field of image compression, while its basis - the DCT algorithm - is also used in other compression technologies. Besides the DCT algorithm, the JPEG technology also gave light to a color test card called “Lenna”. It’s this image and its history that I focus on in the essay “ Shirley, Lenna, Jennifer and the Angel of History ” - in which Lenna is just one caucasian lady in the history of color test cards - others such as Shirley and Jennifer - have similar stories. Lenna, a naked model originally featured as Playboy centerfold in 1972 now serves as a test image to tune and test all kinds of image technologies - often without permission or accreditation. This history of multiplication, objectification, the loss of face and name and finally the becoming of a v...