Current Resident
2024 public art project by The Black Embodiments Studio, Seattle, WA
The Black Embodiments Studio invited me to participate as the Spring 2024 Current Resident, an innovative public art project that delivers black art right to people’s doorsteps. In the first week of June, my project, Phenotyped, reached over 24,000 people in the Central District neighborhood of Seattle, WA via the USPS.
About Phenotyped in Current Resident
Phenotyped is a project about kinship, beauty, and Black culture. I am weaving together vernacular family photos with photographs I have taken at various Beauty Supply stores across the U.S. It relies on the lived memories of my kin as documented by the photographs we have taken, many of which were captured long before I was born. Phenotyped seeks to understand and suggest how identities are constructed, how they are maintained, and how they shift over time.
Phenotyped Images for Current Resident:
Exterior spread: Phenotyped (Rachel, Miley, and Lisa in North Carolina + MID-K Beauty Supply in Oregon), 2024. 25.5 x 20 inches.
Interior spread: Phenotyped (Great Auntie Jeanette Jones in Arkansas + Elegant Beauty Supply in Florida), 2024. 18 x 32 inches.
See more images from the Phenotyped body of work here.
Select photos by Mario Gallucci
