Course: GD Studio / Year Zero

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Mapping Project

One morning, I pulled some of my hair from my head while taking a shower. I began to think about how hair is a piece of DNA that each of us can easily shed, change, or let go of…I began to ask people around me (school, neighborhood, work) if I could take a sample of their hair and record their age and origin. The data I began to collect inspired three types of media to express the journey of the hair being collected and analyzed into a social-spatial map of my environment within San Francisco.
The data suggests a kind of global-ness to an intimate space from which I was able to collect information. #demographic infographics.

The Video is a collage-montage of hair being cut, shaved, trimmed, pulled, brushed, and picked. This sequence projects a disruptive and invasive experience into the personal space of others. 1.55 minutes

The Library is the accumulation of the DNA samples that was collected from each owner in the video.
The library organizes the hair samples by age and origin of the owner of the DNA.

The Poster is the amalgamation of the data content. Using a high-resolution scanner, a relative geographic map proliferates from the origin of the DNA sample owners. This intergalactic interface extracts from our most intimate body parts and creates an impersonal projection of how we remove parts of ourselves, who is participating and how much we are willing to reveal or share…

See Video