Sex and the Tits Tee

Watch This Space exhibition poster, WAL Goldsmiths 2018

Bot Myopia

Sex and the Tits Tee

Recent work has examined the invisibility of women who (like me) elect not to have reconstructive surgery, post-mastectomy. This self portrait riffs on the (I thought) iconic ‘TITS’ tee. I used a photo of my version to promote an exhibition, and posted it on Facebook, remarking that I’d been surprised how many people I’d shown it to were unfamiliar with the original, and asking: did that matter? Did the image work on its own terms? The thread that ensued included comments from those who did and those who didn’t didn’t recognise the reference. One friend posted a link to an article on the provenance of the Tits Tee, featuring a photo of the original, in all its jiggy two breastedness (below, credit: The Look adventures in rock and pop fashion). As a consequence, this friend’s account was blocked by Facebook: algorithms identified and censored the pair of breasts in the article he’d posted. Meanwhile my image remained. Bots, it transpires, cannot detect single breasts.