Theme Leader: Dr Abel Ugba (https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/staff/745/dr-abel-ugba-sfhea)

Introduction: The Algorithmic Eye: Race, Inequalities, and the Digital Gaze invites us to look critically at how artificial intelligence sees – and, more importantly, whom it sees, how it sees them, and with what consequences. In an age when algorithms increasingly shape policing, information, family ideals, beauty standards, and cultural representation, the digital gaze is never simply neutral or objective. Drawing on examples of racialised crime data, misinformation about Black bodies and idealised white family and beauty archetypes, this exhibition reveals how historical inequalities and Western-centric assumptions can be reproduced through contemporary technologies. It invites us to reconsider whose histories, bodies, cultures, and aesthetic values are embedded in the datasets and systems that increasingly mediate our lives. Above all, the exhibition challenges us to imagine AI that is more inclusive, culturally intelligent, and accountable.