Parsons School of Design
BFA Communication Design
Thesis 2021

Mary Blue
Connie Xu

This work focuses on images generated with Facebook DensePose, an open-source pose estimation tool. Pose estimation uses computer vision, which trains machines to identify and classify objects, to detect and track the location of human figures in visual material. DensePose exceeds basic object recognition; it detects human bodies in images and constructs a 3D surface-based model of the body. Also public is DensePose’s training image set of 50,000 people. Typically, the application of the tool is transporting one body’s texture onto another’s pose. The outputs in this project are instead reconstructions of a singular body onto itself.

Images were taken from e-commerce entries for swimwear and run through two tools: the first identifies the body and flattens it into a texture of segmented body parts, and the second reconstructs the model based on the body’s position. In the resulting output, image, surface, and body are placed onto a plane where their characteristics clash, but are also indiscernible from one another. The effect of the technology emerges in the cracks, mistakes, and lost data of these generated bodies.

Treating the bodies as images, they are projected onto prefabricated swimwear patterns and output and sewn by a print-on-demand company. The material of swimwear is mutable, synthetic, and body conforming; the intertwining of swimwear and body shows the divisions and overlaps between synthetic and natural form. A live video presentation of the swimsuits, in which a model moves through poses, shows her struggling, obeying, indulging, and refusing in front of us.

(Red)

Dotun Abeshinbioke

Darina Abuzarova

Sung Hyun (Julie) Ahn

Anisa Al Raisi

Hazal Aysel

Vivek Bajaj

Sunayana Bali

Elliot Bohlen

Madison Brang

Allison Bynum

Rachel Chang

Lilliana Checo

Jizheng Chen

Lena Chen

Mi Chen

Raghav Chhabra

Shreya Chittaranjan

Christopher Chu

Shenny Chuang

Calen Chung

Mae Craford

Chengcheng Cui

Rebecca D'Agostino

Dani de los Santos

Nika Diomidovskaia

Aira Dolfo

Maya Eapen

Yaron Erkin

Louis Falisse

Xiaoke Fei

Bernadette Figueroa

Shih-Ju Fu

Ana Furtado

Martina Gallo

Chenxi (Lisa) Gao

Sierra Glicker

Danielle Beatriz Go

Danni Gomez

QingYing (Mimi) Guan

Peiru Guo

Siyu Hang

Trudy Hoang

Will Howell

Annie Hua

Wallis Huang

Charis Huling

Sana Jamali

Aeva Karlsrud

Lake Kennedy

Byunghyun Kim

Destiny Kim

Yeji Kim

Zen Koo

Padmaja Kothari

McKayla Lankau

Hyunseung Maddie Lee

Jade Lee

Jiwoo Lee

Juna Lee

Victoria Lee

Emma Lepore

Scarlet Li

Sunny Li

Sohyunn Lim

Misty Lin

Stephanie Lin

Yu Tong Tiffany Ling

Lilian Liu

Phoebe Lo

Charlotte Lomas

Kevin Loumeau

Wen Hsin Lu

Dirm Luawo

Peiyun Luo

Youran Mao

Imani McIntosh

Rebecca Mesonjnik

Velimar Molina

Matilde Sofia Monti

Gavin Mullally

Syalsabila Karissa Munaf

Michael Mungai

Sanjana Navar

Katelyn Paik

Aileen Pan

Chanjoo Tiffany Park

Namjoon Park

Storey Pearson

Mariel Quadrino

Simran Rao

Felitasari (Tata) Rekso

Yasmin Rozmee

Rainier Salas

Julia Sams

Eva Serrano Reisner

Anvita Shah

Suditi Shah

Amal Shaheedi

Joyce Shi

Samantha Simotas

Claira Smith

Hyunji Song

Carolina Stierli de Abreu

Niharika Sundarigari

Rachael Tomaszewski

Tiffany Tong

Svasti Ujagar

Ariana Ushiki

Diana Victoreen

Yiqi Wang

Yutong Wang

Zheng Wang

Jasmine Wei

Savannah West

Summer Wojtas

Jacquelyn Wu

Ricky Xie

Connie Xu

Karrie Xu

Ellen Yang

Jacqueline Yang

Emily Yun

Monique Zeitouny Dayan

Cecilia Zhang

Cheryl Zhang

Claire Zhang