International Center of Photography
P R E S S   R E L E A S E


Imaging the Future 2

Foreign Body: Photography and the Prelude to Genetic Modification

From Frankenstein to Robocop to human clones, the cybernetic or manufactured human has seduced the popular imagination for nearly two centuries. With the coming of the genetic revolution, what were once mere fictional fabrications are now closer to realization. But the fascination with fantastic human creatures has also been inspired by the existence of singular people who have been shaped by accident, violence, or nature. Their unique physical characteristics include facial and body anomalies, extreme height or weight, wounds and other injuries, and a variety of congenital and communicable diseases. Many of these people have been commemorated throughout the history of photography. From January 11 through March 17, 2002, the International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43^rd Street, presents Foreign Body: Photography and the Prelude to Genetic Modification, which examines how the unorthodox human form has been seen in photography. It is the second exhibition in the series Imaging the Future: The Intersection of Science, Technology, and Photography.

Foreign Body will look at the way individuals were portrayed between 1852 and 1945 in medical and scientific photography, portraiture, and popular imagery. Among the images on display will be stereographs of the original "Siamese" twins, Chang and Eng, an advertising photo for corrective orthopedic apparatuses, and a daguerreotype of precocious sexual development in a four-year-old boy. Among the photographers who will be represented are Abraham Bogardus, a pioneering photographer who made card photo portraits of famous "freaks," including Mrs. Meyers, the bearded lady; Paul Regnard, a young physician who photographed many of the "hysterical" women who were treated with hypnosis in the 1870s and 1880s by the famed French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot; Ben Shahn, who photographed African-American migrant workers being inoculated and fingerprinted in 1939;and J.R. Eyerman, the first non-military American to photograph the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.

This exhibition not only provides an informal history of the many shapes the human form has taken, but raises critical questions about what the introduction of new biotechnologies might mean now that advances in genetic research have brought us to the threshold of a new era in human engineering.

Imaging the Future is an innovative exhibition series exploring the enormous impact that new scientific technologies are having on the way we understand the human body. The first two exhibitions focus on providing a rich historical context in which to understand how the camera has been used as an instrument to document and validate various social and scientific theories.

Foreign Body has been organized by ICP curator Carol Squiers. A brochure will be available through a generous grant from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.