Passport. The elements in this composition are derived from two different sources. The first is a set of x-rayed hands r that are in the center are examples from a company called Verichip. Verichip is developing a subcutaneous tracking chip that they are suggesting to implant within military personnel. This RFID chip (Radio Frequency ID) is also being proposed for individuals to pass into secure areas, indicate medical conditions, and to make payments. The hands in the composition contain these chips. The second element and the text that surrounds the hands, is a replication of a bill of sale used by a slave trader in a transaction of a human being. The text, which describes the sale of a young woman, has been altered to include the viewer as part of the sale, not only as witness but also as captive. The combination of these two components; a proposed technology that could potentially serve as a prison without walls, and evidence of a societies transgression against another, reminds us how casually flesh can be folded into an instrument that it was not intended for, and how easily we forget this fact.
“Passport” 2009. Dry pigment, Collage, and permanent marker on paper.
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