Emmett

Artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle American and Spanish, born 1961

Date1998

MediumC-print laminated to plexiglas

Dimensionspanel: 152.4 x 58.4 cm (60 x 23 in.)

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineEliza S. Paine Fund

Terms

Object number2002.37.3

DescriptionOne of set of three C-prints of DNA analysis laminated to plexiglasLabel TextArtistic exploration frequently parallels the scientific inventions of its time. In the area of contemporary portraiture, markers of individual identity and family relations have moved beyond external appearance to genetic makeup. For this family portrait of the artist Byron Kim, his partner Lisa, and their son Emmett, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle worked with a genetics laboratory to digitally convert DNA samples of his subjects (like those typically used to determine paternity, criminal culpability, or predisposition to genetic diseases) into three corresponding color photographs. Abstract by conventional standards, these portraits are nonetheless exacting in terms of genetic “likeness” and challenge traditional identification. As the artist noted, “With genetics there is a possibility that the categories at stake in the future are not going to be the old categories. Let’s say black and white. Or let’s say brown and yellow. Let’s say kinky hair or straight hair. If the categories are going to be different, they are going to be beneath the skin.”

ProvenanceMax Protetch Gallery, New York

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