Who am I? Bioartists exploring identity with their own brains, DNA and bacteria
“Body and self, though inseparable, are not identical.”
In a society preoccupied with self-expression – from curated social media personas to tribalistic socio-political factions – many of us express a desire to define our identity and share it with the world. As we become culturally more individualistic and introspective, there is an increased emphasis on the importance of ‘discovering’ oneself and the need to examine our emotions, motives, and flaws.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, Vincent van Gogh, 1889 © The Courtauld Gallery, London. Image link
The exploration of the self has long been a motivation for artists to create work. Self-portraiture in particular is judged not only on whether the piece demonstrates an accurate likeness of the subject, but also on what the work reveals about the artist’s identity or true character. For instance, Vincent van Gogh’s self portraits, painted at various stages throughout his life, form a record of van Gogh’s deteriorating state of mind and offer an insight into how the artist’s mental state affected his sense of self.
My Bed by Tracy Emin, 1998 © The artist. Image link
Advances in technology have allowed portraiture to extend beyond the limits of sculpture, painting, and drawing into the mediums of photography and film. In contemporary art, some artists have taken more conceptual routes to visually represent identity; take Tracy Emin’s My Bed (1998), for example. Inspired by a depressive phase after which Emin’s bedroom was left in an abject state, the artist arranged her cluttered bed and personal belongings inside the Tate, creating a self-portrait of her mental state at the time but avoiding the use of any physical depiction of Emin herself.
Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash
Likewise, many bioartists have used their practice to push the boundaries of self-portraiture and to problematise the concept of identity in exciting and innovative ways. The following artists navigate the intersections of art and science to question how biological matter can act as a creative material and help us form and express who we are.
It’s all in your head
Marta de Menezes has taken the concept of exploring the inner workings of our minds in a new, quite literal, direction. Her work Functional Portraits (2002) uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain, taken whilst her subjects are performing tasks such as drawing or playing the piano. Supplementing these scans with images of each person’s face, de Menezes captures each individuals’ unique identity with scientific precision – we can actually see how one’s mind enacts certain traits, interests, memories and emotions. What can the visualisation of our minds tell us about ourselves and who we are? What do you think a portrait of your brain would look like?
Functional Portraits by Marta de Menezes, 2002 © The artist. Image link
The science of sleep
Susan Aldworth similarly uses renderings of the brain to explore how she internally constructs and enacts her own identity. Transcience consists of a series of etchings made from images of Aldworth’s brain whilst awake and during sleep, demonstrating how sections of the brain change with various passing thoughts and examining how we construct our identities when conscious versus unconscious. The notion of our self-imposed, cognisant identities seeping into and affecting our subconscious has more serious consequences than you might think; scientists have recently found that our personalities affect the quality and amount of sleep we are able to achieve, which actually alters our life expectancy. With this in mind, would you be curious to see how your brain health might be shaping your future?
Transcience by Susan Aldworth, 2013 © The artists. Image link
Genetic origins
For Lynn Hershman Leeson, our identity isn’t just contained in our brain or consciousness, but in our DNA. Working with renowned scientists, Leeson recreated a functional genetics lab at the ZKM Center for Art and Media. As well as allowing visitors to read legal documents related to genetic engineering, view bio-printed frameworks of human noses and ears, and explore some of the scientific equipment regularly utilised in genetic research, The Infinity Engine includes a ‘capture room’ where special software shows each visitor their DNA origins.
The Infinity Engine by Lynn Hershman Leeson, 2014 © The artist. Image link
Considering the rapidly rising interest in consumer DNA tests, it is clear that we are fascinated by our genetic genealogies and the personal histories and traits they can reveal – by the beginning of 2019 over 26 million people had taken an at-home ancestry test and contributed their genetic information to databases owned by leading commercial ancestry companies. But what does it mean when we sign over the ownership of this genetic material? And is it restrictive to think of DNA as the framework of our identity?
Example of an at-home DNA test kit © 23andMe Image link
Nature vs. nurture
Bioartist Justine Cooper considers the limitations of defining our identity using our DNA. Cooper created Transformers as an interrogation of the limiting effects of using physical evidence as markers of identity, because she was interested in the implications of biotechnologies on the individual. She took hair samples from twelve subjects, using the follicles to extract DNA to sequence, as well as fingerprints and photographs in order to collate the information into electronic identity cards. However, Cooper also incorporated more intangible material such as the subjects’ personal histories and cultural backgrounds. By combining biological data with the complexities of an individual’s lived experiences, these identity cards create a more rounded, human representation of one’s identity that extends beyond the binary nature versus nurture argument. This approach suggests that identity is a flexible, adaptable, and ever-changing concept, rather than a set of data which determine the scope of our individuality from the day we are born. What do you think? Is our identity pre-determined or shaped by our experiences?
Transformers by Justine Cooper, 2013 © The artist. Image link
Microbial portraits
If our identity can extend beyond our biometrics, then can it spread beyond our physical form? Sonja Bäumel addresses this in her work Expanded Self, by creating a giant petri dish self-portrait using the microbes from her entire body. The microbial agar imprint exists as a living snapshot of the life forms on Bäumel’s skin from a specific day, time, and location. It grows and evolves as time passes (this image was taken on the seventh day of growth) and so, what began as an exact replica of the artist’s bacteria has now developed into its own organism, existing as its own entity and becoming something else entirely. Our genetic identity can reach beyond our physical body by leaving traces of our unique microbial make-up on everything we touch. So, what happens to our biological material once it leaves the body? Is it no longer part of us, or is it an extension of the self?
Expanded Self by Sonia Bäumel, 2012 © The artist. Image link
Identity crisis
Photo by Adrien Converse on Unsplash
Scientific and technological advances have forced us to redefine how we construct our self-image, adding biological matter and unique physical characteristics to the many methods with which we express our individuality. Scientific processes have allowed these artists to interrogate the ethics and limitations of codifying one’s personality, whilst also highlighting how technology can offer previously inconceivable insights into the inner workings of our minds.
The ideas presented in these works raise important issues with the significance we place on biology and genetics in determining our sense of self, and hint at how this might affect us in the future. Considering how notions of identity are constantly shifting, how might we define ourselves in the future? And what are the potential implications of using science to quantify something as intangible as identity?