Janet Williams: A Topography of Touch

Ross Gallery

August 12 – September 26, 2013

Opening Reception, Wednesday, August 28, 5:00-7:00 pm in Ross Gallery

Artist Lecture Monday, September 9 at 2:00 in Tate Hall followed by an artist led tour in Ross Gallery

The exhibit will feature a collection of ceramic and porcelain works inspired by the concept of identification. Born in the United Kingdom, Williams recently became a citizen of the United States, a process that required the documentation of her physical body through fingerprinting. This experience inspired her to explore the ways people identify themselves from a cultural and geographical standpoint.

As a result, she commonly uses her fingerprint as a starting point; with digital and hands-on techniques, she translates it into a porcelain relief piece, creating topographic and architectural structures. This juxtaposition, using a technological program to digitally map out ways to manipulate an ancient, organic material, led her to a new question of identity: humanity’s place in a technological world.