Humanæ

Angélica Dass
(Brazilian, b. 1979).

Humanæ, (2012 – ongoing)
Digital photography installation.
size varies.
Courtesy of Angélica Dass

The multiple documentary gazes of Angélica Dass’ ongoing international project entitled Humanae asks both participants and audiences to question their own color and racial identity. Is there a true black? Is there a true white? Dass, who is the granddaughter of “black” and “native” Brazilians, the daughter of a “black” father and adopted child of “white” parents, unravels these common racial associations. 11 x 11 pixel samplings from each digital portrait are used to determine the matching Pantone color used to fill the background. Each portrait is labeled using its Pantone code. Pantone’s matching system (PMS) is a standardized color classification method invented by Lawrence Herbert in the 1950s that is internationally used by designers, manufacturers, publishers and artists, among others.

The diversity of the thousands of portraits taken during the Humanae project is defined entirely by those who choose to participate in the countries, cities and galleries where the artist has organized photo shoots. The twelve photographs here represent the order of the cities visited in the past three years, from left to right: Madrid (Spain), Barcelona (Spain), Chicago (USA), Paris (France), São Paulo (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Winterthur (Switzerland), Bergen (Norway), Daegu (South Korea), Valencia (Spain), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Valparaiso (Italy). On occasion, two individuals may have identical Pantone I.D.s, yet they are very different. While the Pantone background color is flat and consistent, the faces of each subject are deeply nuanced and individual.

Jenna Wendler ‘17

photo: courtesy of artist