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Shades of White

The discredited science of eugenics served as inspiration for Shades of White, an installation by Prof. [art 1994–], at the at the University of Oregon. Prof. Ondrizek spent years researching the work of Alexandra Minna Stern, a medical historian at the University of Michigan and the author of Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America.

Ondrizek’s research led to a visual reinterpretation of the “Gates Skin Color Charts” created by R. Ruggles Gates and used by eugenicists in the mid-20th century to chart race. Hand-dyed silk, displayed in 18-gauge steel boxes, approximates variations of skin pigmentation. “Her appropriation of this eugenic device to facilitate a discussion of human dignity is poignant and timely,” notes June Black, the museum’s associate curator.

“I have done similar genetic research–based projects, but I have not previously taken on such racially controversial material,” says Ondrizek, who explores personal and political issues related to genetics, ethnic identity, and disease in her work. Her choice to use steel and silk was of particular importance for this project, she says. “These two materials had enormous effects on the global economy and human relations and as a result, our genetic inheritance for centuries.” 

Shades of White is funded by a 2014 Hallie Ford Individual Artist Fellowship in the Visual Arts from the Ford Family Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and shows in the Artist Project Space through December 14.