What can we learn about a person through biological materials such as their hair or skin? What are the limitations of prescribing an identity through genomic sequencing? These are the questions posed by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg in her collaborative projects with Chelsea Manning, currently on view at Fridman Gallery. The exhibition, titled A Becoming Resemblance and curated by Roddy Schrock, ultimately suggests that identities are multiple and fluid, while championing the possibilities presented by developing bio-technologies.
Walking in, the viewer is confronted by a sea of realistically rendered 3D portraits. Suspended in mid-air, 30 mask-like faces meet the viewer at eye level, constituting a wave of varying skin colors, facial features, and expressions. The installation, entitled “Probably Chelsea” (2017) is a continuation of the concepts and processes that informed Dewey-Hagborg’s previous work: using a sophisticated, powder-based 3D-printing technology, she produced portraits of strangers from bodily scraps she picked up in public spaces. Whereas those were renderings of people she didn’t know, here the work has sprung from an intimate relationship based on trust and mutual understanding that she and Manning have forged since 2015. From prison, Manning mailed cheek swabs and hair clippings to Dewey-Hagborg, who extracted DNA information from them and used it to algorithmically generate possible portraits of her friend.
