Abstract

Augmented reality face filters, found on social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, have gained in popularity in recent years. While some are amusing and playful, like butterflies flying around you, the filter landscape is primarily populated by “beauty filters”, a digital beautification of face features that reinforce heteronormative standards. While this research-creation project aims to challenge the current filter norms, it does so with a reparative approach: it focuses on the generative potential of face filters and offers a gender nonconformant alternative by creating a face filter through a participatory methodology. I led two workshops that I held with three queer femme friends of mine who were also invested in challenging the norms of face filters. The result, seen more as an experimental prototype than a final design, was shared with participants to get their feedback. A key aim was to create visions for a non-heteronormative augmented reality future. As such, protopian futurism, the prototyping of hopeful and radically inclusive futures, as developed by Monika Bielskyte, is a guiding concept along Eve Sedgwick’s reparative reading. The workshops resulted in a collaborative experience of self-discovery and the development of new face filter themes.