With Chelsea E. Manning

Probably Chelsea is a collection of thirty different possible portraits of whistleblower Chelsea Manning algorithmically-generated by an analysis of her DNA. While she was in prison, forbidden from being visited, she sent me cheek swabs from which I could extract DNA to create her portrait. Genomic data can tell a multitude of different stories about who and what you are. Probably Chelsea shows just how many ways your DNA can be interpreted as data, and how subjective the act of reading DNA really is.

Suspended at a variety of human heights in the center of the gallery, Probably Chelsea evokes the form of a diverse crowd or mass movement standing with Chelsea. The work was created to celebrate her release when President Obama commuted her sentence. It is a refutation of outmoded notions of biologically inscribed identity and a testament to the commonality of all, a molecular solidarity that is clearly present even at the cellular level.

Read the catalog text for our exhibition at Fridman Gallery including my essay.

Reviews in CNN, the Guardian, Artnet, Hyperallergic, W Magazine, and Vice.

Kindly supported by Creative Capital, Shapeways, Fridman Gallery, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. With thanks to NYU's LaGuardia Studio, ITP, Data & Society, and Thoughtworks Arts.