Microbial Mugshot
Recent research in the human microbiome has concluded that every individual’s microbiome extend past their body; that we all exist within an imperceptible ‘microbial cloud’ which is as unique to each person as their fingerprints or DNA. Intrigued by this research, I created a body of work based on found mugshots of the 1920’s, complete with each person’s microbial profile. Created a few years before the onset of the Covid pandemic, I was fascinated by our unique individual invisible profile, and if available or visible to everyone, what it might describe about a person. I was also interested in the inherent narrative formed by these drawings (later turned into silkscreen prints). Who were these people? What were they accused of? Did their microbiome contribute to their accusations, or protect them from what was to come?
The majority of these works are part of a larger series that I created at Kala Art Institute from 2017 to 2019. As an Artist-In-Resident and later as a Parent-Artist Fellow, I had the pleasure of working in the former ketchup factory in West Berkeley.