Opening Reception – August 2, 2017 – 6-8pm
Fridman Gallery – 287 Spring Street, New York
Fridman Gallery is pleased to present A Becoming Resemblance, an exhibition by Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Chelsea E. Manning, investigating emerging technologies of genomic identity construction and our societal moment.
In 2015, Heather began to produce 3D printed portraits derived from the DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings Chelsea mailed out of prison. Incarcerated since her gender transition and subject to a strict policy on visitation, Chelsea’s image was suppressed from 2013 until her release from prison in May this year. The artistic collaboration with Heather gave Chelsea back a form of visibility, a human face she had been denied.
As Chelsea described the collaboration: “Prisons try very hard to make us inhuman and unreal by denying our image, and thus our existence, to the rest of the world. Imagery has become a kind of proof of existence. The use of DNA in art provides a cutting edge and a very post-modern—almost ‘post-post-modern’—analysis of thought, identity, and expression. It combines chemistry, biology, information, and our ideas of beauty and identity.”
More about A Becoming Resemblance In the Press:
- The New York Times – From Chelsea Manning’s DNA Springs an Art Show
- Reuters – Artist to debut 3D portraits produced from Chelsea Manning’s DNA
- Huffington Post – What Happens When Chelsea Manning’s DNA Becomes An Artist’s Material?
- Paper Magazine – Chelsea Manning’s collaborative art show is coming to a gallery in NYC
- ArtNews – Chelsea Manning, Artist, Will Show Collaborative Self-Portraits at New York Gallery