Unauthorized Face Detected – Per Englund

Portraits in The Blind Algorithm

Per Englund is a Swedish writer and photographer who started doing graffiti in 1994. Unlike his first graffiti book Kul Att Det Körs in which he focused on local tags in Stockholm this 2026 publication covers a different but related topic. Unauthorized Face Detected – Portraits in The Blind Algorithm is a compilation of illegally executed faces and smileys he found across 17 countries.

Whether executed with marker, paint brush or spray can – smileys and faces seem to be one of the first things people without a graffiti background paint illegally when they got the chance to. From 2008 to 2025 the photographer collected his findings in cities all around the globe like Stockholm, New York, Paris, Berlin, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Barcelona, Madrid, Belgrade, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Oslo, Budapest, Tunis, Mumbai, Copenhagen, Helsinki or Göteborg.

It entertains to browse through the visage collection while you almost automatically start to compare them, spot differences and think about the creators and their intentions. The 125 photos show anonymous works except for OZ’s smileys in Hamburg which somehow stand out through his unique style and shape of his lines.
A detailed index does not only give the date, but also the location and the exact time when Englund captured each face. The 52-paged publication is printed in an edition of 300 copies.

52 pages, 17 x 24 cm, staple bound zine booklet
Language: English
Release date: May 2026
ISBN: 978-91-990749-5-5
Publisher: Utsikt Spanöga