Re-Imagining Henrietta Lacks

2015, Acrylic and wire on canvas, 36” x 48”

Re-Imagining Henrietta Lacks is a project that examines the Black body at the liminal intersection between art and science. Drawing from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2009) by Rebecca Skloot, this work seeks to intervene in the scientific discourse by engaging with scientific determination and incorporating materials from the field such as lab tables, petri dishes and images of immortal cells. Visibility and invisibility resonate throughout the artwork, echoing the notion of flux as the figure is at once both revealed and hidden.

The process of creating this painting uses a variety of materials and means to examine consent, and wire that can be manipulated and formed to replicate cells. Visibility and invisibility resonate throughout the artwork, echoing the notion of flux as the figure is at once both revealed and hidden. The work moves beyond the general disposition that habitually aligns visual works about Black bodies with themes of slavery and suffering.