Acnephobic: Faces for a Feminist Data Practice

Data visualizations use symbols as a tool to represent a subject. They interpret, simplify, and synthesize – often in a manner detached from the physical source of information. However, Acnephobic deals with acne positivity, a social media-based movement that aims to give visibility to those subjugated by politics of shame and consequential invisibility. As an information designer, can I develop a practice that returns to the human substrate of data, without losing the gains of synthetic thinking? Can I stop hiding humans behind numbers and show their faces within a meaningful perspective?