A two-year initiative, "100 Portraits of Becoming", has been launched to document the lives and identities of 100 people across five countries. The project begins in Kenya and will move to the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Brazil. Participants will have their portraits taken in natural light, without filters, and in clothing of their choice. They will also share personal accounts of their lives, experiences, and the changes that have shaped who they are.
The project is led by Brazilian artist Angélica Dass, whose international portrait project Humanæ has examined perceptions of race and skin colour. Dass said the new initiative would allow participants to present themselves on their own terms. The project brings together Dass's portrait practice and TECNO's imaging technology, with the company providing the smartphone cameras used to capture the portraits.
The initiative comes as questions grow over how people are represented in digital images and artificial intelligence systems, particularly when technologies are trained on datasets that may not fully reflect human diversity. TECNO's Universal Tone imaging technology will be used to capture the portraits, designed to improve the rendering of different skin tones in smartphone photography.
The first participants in Nairobi include entrepreneurs, farmers, dancers, artists, and other creators whose experiences reflect different aspects of life in Kenya. One of them, Alexander Odhiambo, co-founder of enterprise software company Solutech, said people should have the freedom to define themselves rather than be defined by outside assumptions.
The project will eventually feature 100 portraits and accompanying personal stories on a dedicated online archive, with the first portraits expected to be published in August. Dass has previously explored similar questions through Humanæ, a portrait series that challenges conventional ways of categorising people by race and skin colour.
The artist said the project was less about defining people through their appearance and more about allowing their individual stories to emerge. "My portrait practice has always been less about documenting appearance and more about creating space for people to exist beyond assumptions," she added.
The "100 Portraits of Becoming" project will continue for two years as it moves across the five countries, building an archive of portraits and personal accounts centred on people's individual experiences. The initiative reflects growing questions about how people are represented as digital imaging and AI technologies become more widespread.
Key points
- The project allows participants to present themselves on their own terms.
- The initiative explores identity and representation at a time when artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to create and interpret images of people.
- The project will build a digital archive of portraits and personal stories centred on people's individual experiences.
