After having my own genome sequenced in the Summer of 2020, I was bombarded by intrusively existential thoughts as a slew of numbers and letters representing my physical being lay on my computer screen, staring back at me. The experience forced me to rethink what being a human person meant, and whether or not the data that I was scrolling through was an accurate way of defining my entire being. This led me to wonder about the parts of myself that my genetic coding could not explain; the parts of myself missing from the numbers. Surely, we as humans must be more complex than what can be defined by a string of digits on a screen.

As scientific studies continue to advance in the exploration of our physical selves, how is our definition of humanity or our sense of self being affected? Can science no longer explain what we have become?

The series began with the seemingly endless scrolling text of each of my chromosomes on my computer, and so it does in the exhibition, displayed in a similar way to how I first interacted with my own genomic data. After researching what some of these numbers mean, I began noting some of the basic physical attributes that I exhibit that the data proved was coded within me since birth. I then photographed myself on 4x5 film in ways that highlighted those attributes, resulting in a series of images that represent myself at face value as defined by my genome. Next, I once again photographed myself, this time using carefully orchestrated propping, clothing, and poses that represent personal experiences of mine that have shaped me since my birth, contrasting the genes that I was born with. In my final image of the series, I come to a conclusion in an attempt to satisfy the existential crisis I had been experiencing since first viewing my genomic data. Specific data from my sequenced genome is written on my skin while I pose for the camera wearing my own clothing, representing a final symbiosis of physicality and experience, creating a fully realized human person.