November 2024 EFF: Material (Mis)Identities: Art, Genes and Ethics

How can genetically-incorporated art examine, highlight, and challenge existing social constructs such as the formation of racial identity? This ELSI Friday Forum explored this question and focused on the intersection between art and genetics. Panelist, Lucy Kim, Associate Professor in Art and Painting, discussed a unique process she created to use melanin from genetically-modified bacteria to develop images. This process of screen printing with melanin raises questions about how race is ascribed, its meaning, and connection to something as arbitrary as pigment. Panelist, Paul Vanouse, Professor of Art, discussed his interactive biomedia installation in which extracted DNA samples “run” through gel electrophoresis to examine the racial identity of his multi-racial family’s Jamaican descent. Moderated by Rachel Adams, Professor of English and Comparative Literature.

Moderator: Rachel Adams, PhD

Presenters: Lucy Kim, MFA & Paul Vanouse, MFA

Suggested Citation:

Kim, L., Vanouse, P., & Adams, R. (2024, November 8). Material (mis)identities: Art, genes and ethics [Video]. The Center for ELSI Resources and Analysis (CERA). https://elsihub.org/video/november-2024-eff-material-misidentities-art-genes-and-ethics