Plural Identity - The Non-Self
With this project, I aimed to keep exploring and working on the project I initiated last semester. The conclusion that I drew out of that first attempt is the obvious duality between the objective science and subjective feelings.
https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/GMU:Artists_Lab:Marie_Ebel
But this duality quickly appeared as integral as necessary. I decided then to focus my research on the conceptual bridge that would connect this two entities Parallay, I engaged the process of ethnicity analysis through DNA sample.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapiens:_A_Brief_History_of_Humankind
I signed up for MyHeritage online company. My previous researches provided me with a solid background in that matter, which allows me to suspect the very unprofessional and speculative work of those companies. I was curious to know and confront my personal knowledge with the work of this company, the leader in that market.
Once I ordered my kit, I received the package couple of days later. My first impression regarding this is the fact that the marketing part is going over the scientific professionalism. It is absolutely well designed, with trendy colors and fashionable graphics.
Once my results got published, my suspicions got confirmed, as their analysis results are ridiculously wrong (except for one point). It speculates that I have origins from Irland, together with the Balkans, Scandinavians and the Middle East, which personal researches continuing my family tree over 2 centuries confirmed wrong. Also, there are no signs of French either German, which makes absolutely no sense.
Another critic that must be made is the huge confusion between ethnicity, nationality, regionalism, and religion. Basic common sense suffices to read the inaccuracy of this work. In fact, how does this company differ "Italian" from "Sicilian" ethnicity ? or how can it assumes that your personal faith (Jewish) will be written in your DNA? Those amalgams highly discredit the work of this company, which is hard to believe made by scientists.
https://www.myheritage.com/dna/results/521626411
I resolved then to articulate my thoughts through an installation, which will highlight the connection between science and personal feelings. The installation consisted of two videos, one from an old CRT TV and one coming from a video projector. The latter video (coming from the video projector) is projected on the TV screen, itself playing on a video; creating thus a sculptural effect. The old TV takes place as a metaphor for my own representation, while the design video projector stands for my researches and knowledge.
I made various tests to visualize the feasibility of my ideas.
First outcome
Video
File:Plural Identity - Part2.mp4
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I became then curious to compare different DNA companies. I decided to send off my DNA samples to three different companies, expecting to get 3 different results. The second company that I sign up for was 23andme.
making-of https://vimeo.com/300370781
This second DNA test was quite similar to the first one surprisingly, except that it has acknowledged some French/German ancestors. Here again, we have a significant percentage of British/Scandinavian/Balkan heritage. What is interesting is the fact that I cannot confirm this result through my own knowledge regarding my family history (I was able to retrace my family tree over 2 centuries) but it seems that 2 different companies (that are then using a different database) had been able to come to the very same conclusion.
Assuming that those results could carry some truth, I was then wondering what could that mean to me. What influence could have such results on my everyday life, and on the perception of my own identity?
Having the chance to study abroad in Boston for a semester, I met the Harvard University microbiologist and geneticist Jon Beckwith, who kindly agree on supporting me and collaborating with me through this project. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Beckwith
I got invited multiple times to various meetings with other scientists, all fascinated with the subject of ethnicity. It is indeed a quite controversial topic, as the scientific community still disagree on certain points, but all recognize that humans cannot be divided into biologically distinct subcategories, which challenges the traditional concept of biologically separate and distinct races. Nevertheless, it seems that analyzing diverse genome markers is likely to define a population group, to a certain extent.
Based on this new pattern, I decided to change my angle. I attacked the problem the other way around. I found a scientific paper that refers to a primer that defines subhaplogroups. This paper completes the DNA sequencing that covers virtually all (sub)haplogroups discernible to date in East Asia. It can serve as a solid basis for phylogeographic (also deduced from the complete human genome) to define whether this primer would run samples of my own DNA. If that is the case, it could mean that I do carry some makers usually associate to East Asian genome, but it could also lead to a quite unusual conclusion: Genetics is manipulable. And so is anthropology. Trying to finding any relevant explications to the percentage of British/Scandinavian/Balkan heritage, I found out various names of tribes (such as the Sámi) coming from Asia and who immigrated to Scandinavia and then England islands or other tribes (such as the Jász) who settled in the Balkans but are people from the Genghis Khan empire.
That conclusion brought me to reflect upon another issue. I decided to admit that subjective truth is prior to and more fundamental (more authentic) than object objective truth. I should trust my feelings since emotions are perceived as a prism, which alters the shape and colors of past and present life memory of objective facts is colored by present feelings and motivation. I decided to go back to my very first statement and rely on the artifact that initiated this project. I focused on this photograph (first presented in https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/GMU:Artists_Lab:Marie_Ebel). Seeking out my own identity brought me to conclude that only me can decide who I am. I hold the truth in my soul, nor in my DNA either in my family history. I grew up with this fantasy that I might come from a different land, that I belong to somewhere else than where I was born. A sort of duality that differs my soul from my physical heritage.
As a conclusion to this long process, I decided to propose a performance that will talk about this transcultural identity. Inspired by Asian philosophy, I decided to admit that my existence is shaped by this non-self. I decided to admit that there is anything that I personally own in what is a permanent essence of myself. I decided to let it go and let it go back to the soil of Mother Earth.
Ritual Video https://vimeo.com/300381485
