CRYSTAL Z CAMPBELL I Live To Fight (No More) Forever
Opening: 22.06.2013 – h. 18.00
25.06.2013 – 08.08.2013
Crystal Z Campbell’s first solo exhibition, I Live To Fight (No More) Forever, extracts from sources in art, science and collective memory. Central to the exhibition narrative is Henrietta Lacks––Lacks was an African-American woman who died of cancer in 1951. Lacks’ cells were taken when she was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the few hospitals that would accept an African-American patient during segregation. Lacks’ cells, which were growing independently of her body, would become known as the “immortal” cell line. Decades later, HeLa cells were used to decipher DNA, develop cures for polio and were later distributed around the world and into space for advanced scientific research. With scientists at the Gorlaeus Laboratory at the University of Leiden, Campbell is growing HeLa cells immortal cells on diamonds as a symbolic link between commercial and biological value while questioning the value of forever. Bioethical concerns link several works in the exhibition including a triangular video projection of HeLa cells growing on diamonds, sculptures, drawings, and specimens. One work titled Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today features five slide viewers with texts forming a sentence regarding ideas of value, time and immortality.
Campbell’s investigation of civilization and collective consciousness is evident in the inclusion of porcelain works made from direct casts of objects. The objects nod to the archaeological tradition of reverse engineering a civilization’s values, practices and rituals through its material traces. Campbell’s installation prompts viewers to investigate historical and scientific narratives.