Dr. Helen Pynor (Sydney, Australia - London, UK)
CCD AiR - 8th - 30th June, 2023
Dr Helen Pynor is an Artist and Researcher whose practice explores philosophically and experientally ambiguous zones, such as the life-death boundary, the inter-subjective nature of organ transplantation, and the meaning of DNA once it leaves its originating body. Helen works with living and ‘semi-living’ organs, cells and biomolecules such as DNA, and works across installation, media art, photography, video, sculpture, microscopy, sound and performance.
During her residency at CasCaDas Helen worked on a book chapter for the forthcoming publication The Routledge Companion to Performance and Medicine (eds Gianna Bouchard and Alex Mermikides, publisher Routledge) exploring her experiences of making Habitation. She also undertook research and creative development for her new work exploring bone china made from native Australian animals.
Helen also worked with Barcelona-based Art-Science organisation Quo Artis to develop a 2024 exhibition at the UNESCO-listed former hospital site Sant Pau, considered one of the world’s finest examples of art nouveau architecture. The exhibition, including works by Dr Svenja Kratz, Dr Andrea Rassell and Helen’s work 99% Human, will explore philosophical, ethical and legal frameworks around DNA and DNA research, and will engage with the layered medical and scientific histories of the Sant Pau site.
Details of vitrine set-up with glass work in response to the Raval ambiance showing the contrast with transparency, balance and the capture of light.
New Work
In her new work, Helen will make bone china objects from the bones of ethically and legally sourced native Australian fauna who have died through road accidents (‘road kill’). Each bone china object will be made from a single individual animal, and as a starting point bone china forms will reference the three middle ear bones of humans and other vertebrates. These bones are vestiges of fish gill structures, persisting from the deep time of our water dwelling evolutionary ancestors. They offer a symbol for our ancient ancestral kinship with other animals, embodying an anatomical registration of this connection. Human middle ear bones also offer a metaphor for acts of listening – the urgent need for humans to listen more closely, to protect the futures of our non-human kin and other non-living ‘kin’ such as rocks and minerals.
In English tradition, high quality crockery was made from fine bone china. In rendering the bones of native fauna into the translucent, precious material of bone china, Helen intends to pay homage to native fauna who have died a result of violent road accidents, through the transformation of their animal remains.
99% Human (2023)
Helen’s current work 99% Human (2023) opened in March at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany, in the exhibition Renaissance 3.0. The work explores the multispecies nature of being ‘human’, the ‘promiscuity’ of DNA, and DNA data as a generative tool, through an investigation of DNA we exhale in our breath and inhale from others.
To develop 99% Human Helen collaborated with geneticist and bioinformatician Jimmy Breen. They created a shared breath sample, by breathing into a scientific glassware condenser device for 10 minutes. They extracted the DNA in their shared breath sample and sequenced it in Jimmy’s lab. Analysis of the sequenced DNA revealed 93% human DNA, with the remaining 7% of DNA belonging to around 6,700 identified microbial species. Composer Amanda Cole created a microtonal, polyphonic choral work for 4 classically trained singers, who use their own respiratory tracts to sing and whisper the names of the human and hundreds of microbial species present in Helen and Jimmy’s breath sample.
Helen’s work Habitation (2021) explores the collapse of the animate-inanimate boundary we are currently witnessing due to the widespread use of prosthetics, and was prompted by hip replacement surgery Pynor undertook in 2019 as a result of a congenital hip abnormality. Habitation seeks to challenge perceptions of the body as a passive recipient of human-engineered implants, drawing on philosopher Monika Bakke’s concept of ‘lithic intimacies’ – life’s diverse, intimate relationships of exchange and inter-species companionship with minerals.1
Navigating medical prohibitions, Helen gained permission to retain the femur head bone removed from her body during surgery, raising questions about ownership and personal agency over ‘biomaterials’ excised from the body, and what happens to them after removal. Helen used her own bone material to make a bone china object – a replica of her excised femur head – bringing into dialogue two seemingly incongruent ideas: the ‘animality’ of bone china, and the ‘minerality’ of animals. This deconstructive gesture points to underlying structures of material connectivity between living and non-living entities, not immediately available to our sensory perception.
Habitation is currently touring Australia with the Experimenta Life Forms International Triennial of Media Art (2021-2024).
1. Bakke, Monica