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The last decades of the XX century witnessed the erosion of the idea of veracity, originally attributed to the photographic image since the very early days. This was due, among other reasons, to the arrival and expansion of digital technology. However, in recent years, this same digital technology appears to be reverting that tendency. Ever since the emergence of social networks and the overwhelming democratization of image-making devices it seems that photography has gained back its ability to bear witness, to show and share with the world that 'I was there'.

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However, not only services like Google or Facebook have turned around the status quo. In the current social context of Western Countries, is the combination of technology and the brand behind the images what has given back photography its almighty authority. In this line, You Haven't Seen Their Faces focuses its attention on other means of mass image production which is embroiled in a similar quandary: surveillance cameras. Months after the London Riots the Metropolitan Police handed out leaflets depicting youngsters that presumably took part in riots. Images of very low quality, almost amateur, were embedded with unquestioned authority due both to the device used for taking the photographs and to the institution distributing those images. But in reality, what do we actually know about these people? We have no context or explanation of the facts, but we almost inadvertently assume their guilt because they have been ‘caught on CCTV’.

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You Haven't Seen Their Faces intends to appropriate the characteristics of surveillance technology in order to create a very different set of images. The subject matter however is not the usual target of surveillance cameras, but a list of the 100 most powerful people of the City of London (according to the annual report by Square Mile magazine). The people here featured represent a sector which is arguably regarded in the collective perception as highly responsible for the current economic situation, but nevertheless still live in a comfortable anonymity. Hence the set of questions raised would be of the same sort: In the same way that we cannot possibly know if the youngsters portrayed by the police are actually criminals, we can not assume either that the individuals here featured are dishonest or have any involvement in the current banking scandals. The series focuses therefore on how a given image-production system such as surveillance cameras determines the way the spectators interpret the context surrounding the images. Do we take them in in the same way when presented in a leaflet as if encountered on a different medium? Does the fact that the police assumes the authorship of the images makes it different than when the author is an artist? How much does technology itself affect the reading of the image? Is it the inherent features of this type of technology that confers their truthfulness? What happens when those features are replicated precisely with other devious devices of digital manipulation?

List of Names

 

#1 – Mark Carney – Governor, Bank of England
#2 - George Osborne - Chancelor of the Exchequer, Government of the UK
#3 - Michael Sherwood - Co-Chief Executive, Goldman Sachs Int.
#4 - David Cameron - Prime Miniester, Government of the UK
#5 - Stuart Gulliver - Group CEO, HSBC
#6 - Martin Wheatley - CEO, Financial Conduct Authority
#7 - Alan Howard - Co-Founder, Brevan Howard Asset Managenemt
#8 - Antony Jenkins - CEO, Barclays
#9 - Stephen Hester - CEO, RSA
#10 - Antonio Horta-Osorio - CEO, Lloyds TSB
#11 - Ana Botin - CEO, Santander 
#12 - Daniel Pinto - CEO, JP Morgan Chase
#13 - Xavier Rolet - Chief Executive, London Stock Exchange
#14 - Mark Boleat - Policy Chairman, City of London Corporation
#15 - Sir Jeremy Heywood - Cabinet Secretary, Government of the UK
#16 - Michael Spencer - Founder, Icap
#17 - Boris Johnson - Mayor of London
#18 - Ian Powell - Chairman and Senior Partner, PwC
#19 - Anthony Browne - CEO, British Bankers’ Association
#20 - David Sproul - UK Chief Executive and Senior Partner, Deloitte
#21 - Richard Ward - Chairman, Brit Insurance
#22 - Andrew Tyrie - Chairman, Treasury Select Comittee
#23 - Paul Tucker - Former Deputy Governor, Bank of England
#24 - Colin Grassie - CEO, Deutsche Bank UK
#25 - Richard Gnodde - Co-Chief Executive, Goldman Sachs International
#26 - David Childs - Managing Partner, Clifford Chance
#27 - Tidjane Thiam - Chief Executive, Prudential
#28 - Ian Wace - Co-founder, Marshall Wace
#29 - Tracey McDermott - Head of Enforcement, Financial Conduct Authority
#30 - Pierre Lagrange - Co-founder, GLG
#31 - David Morley - Worldwide Senior Partner, Allen & Overy
#32 - Sir John Vickers - Former-Chair, Independent Commission on Banking
#33 - Crispin Odey - Founder, Odey Asset Management
#34 - Peter Sands - CEO, Standard Chartered
#35 - Martin Sorrell - Chairman, WPP
#36 - Liz Bingham - Managing Partner, Ernst & Young
#37 - Simon Robey - Co-founder, Robey Warshaw
#38 - Lord Rothschild - Founder and Chairman, RIT Capital Partners
#39 - Nigel Boardman - Partner, Slaughter & May
#40 - Lionel Barber - Editor, Financial Times
#41 - Peter Martyr - Global Chief Executive, Norton Rose
#42 - Peter Wynne Rees - Chief Planner, City of London Corporation
#43 - Hilary Evenett - Partner, Clifford Chance
#44 - Helena Morrissey - CEO, Newton Investment Management
#45 - Ed Balls - Shadow Chancellor
#46 - Gerald Ronson - CEO, Heron International
#47 - Sir Paul Ruddock - Chief Executive, Lansdowne Partners
#48 - Michael Hintze - Founder, CQS
#49 - Robert Chote - Chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility
#50 - Robert Elliott - Senior Partner, Linklaters
#51 - Lord Tim Clement-Jones - Managing Partner, DLA Piper International
#52 - Roland Rudd - Co-founder and Senior Partner, RLM Finsbury
#53 - Robert Peston - Business Editor, BBC News
#54 - Sir Nicholas Macpherson - Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
#55 - Alan Parker - Chairman, Brunswick
#56 - Michael Platt - Founder, Bluecrest
#57 - Neil Woodford - Co-Founder, Woodford Equity Income
#58 - Tony Gallagher - Joint Deputy Editor, Daily Mail
#59 - Kathleen Bacon - Managing Director, HarbourVest
#60 - Andrea Orcel - Co-chief Executive, Investment Banking, UBS
#61 - Vince Cable - Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
#62 - Ken Costa - Partner, Developing Markets Capital; Head of the St Paul’s Initiative
#63 - Martin Gilbert - CEO, Aberdeen Asset Management
#64 - Christian Levett - Money Manager, Moore Capital Management
#65 - Damon Buffini - Founding Partner, Permira
#66 - John Micklethwait - Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg News
#67 - Jayne-Anne Gadhia - CEO, Virgin Money
#68 - Mark Coombs - Founder and CEO, Ashmore Group
#69 - Stephanie Flanders - Chief Market Strategist UK and Europe, JP Morgan Chase
#70 - Tim Jones - Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
#71 - Jonathan Sorrell - Chief Financial Director, Man Group (NO IMAGES AVAILABLE)
#72 - Alex Wilmot-Sitwell - President of Europe, BofA Merrill Lynch
#73 - Alan Mearns - Non-Executive Director, Vitesse Media Plc
#74 - Margaret Cole - General Counsel, PwC
#75 - Ann Cairns - President of International Markets, MasterCard Worldwide
#76 - Frances Murphy - Head of Corporate Parctice, Slaughter & May
#77 - Steven Heinz - Co-founder, Lansdowne Partners
#78 - Lord O’Donnell - Former Cabinet Secretary; Chairman, Frontier Economics
#79 - Danny Alexander - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
#80 - Alasdair Haynes - Founder and CEO, Aquis Exchange
#81 - Louis Bacon - Founder, Moore Capital Management
#82 - David Harding - Founder, Winton Capital Management
#83 - Arpad Busson - Founder, EIM
#84 - Martin Wolf - Chief Economic Commentator, Financial Times
#85 - Roger Gifford - Former Lord Mayor; UK Country Manager, SEB
#86 - Simon Collins - UK Chairman and Senior Partner, KPMG
#87 - Guy Hands - Founder, Terra Firma Capital Partners
#88 - Mark Florman - Senior Adviser, MCF
#89 - Sir Ronald Cohen - Chairman, Big Society Capital
#90 - Richard Spafford - Partner, Reed Smith
#91 - Iain Anderson - Director, Cicero Consulting
#92 - Paul Killik - Founding Partner, Killik & Co
#93 - Rupert Harrison - Special Adviser to the Chancellor
#94 - Andrew Baker - Board Director, CAIA Association
#95 - Lord Mervyn Davies - Chairman, Corsair Capital LLP
#96 - Stephen Butt - Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, Silchester
#97 - Jan Hall - Founder, JCA Group
#98 - Kit Malthouse - Deputy Mayor for Business & Enterprise
#99 - Lady Barbara Judge - Chairperson, Pension Protection Fund
#100 - John McFarlane - Non-executive Director, Barclays

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