Algorithmic blindness and the foreclosure of the imaginary: The Chilean case

The essay examines how photography functioned during the 2019 Chilean social uprising under conditions of algorithmic surveillance. Facial recognition and data infrastructures transformed the photographic image from testimony into a tool of identification and control. The text identifies three visual strategies developed in response: camouflage through masks and face coverings, photographic distancing that shifts focus from individual faces to collective bodies, and retouching that deliberately disrupts machine readability. Drawing on Azoulay’s concept of civil imagination, the essay argues these practices renegotiate the civil contract of photography. It concludes that representation today requires balancing testimony with protection, since visibility itself has become a vulnerability.