Target DNA 1,2 and 3

1m x 1.3m x 6cm (stoneware)

This body of work came to me when on the same day I was looking through Jasper John’s target series and heard a ridiculous quote that was doing the rounds on social media, about how the West’s fundamental weakness was its empathy.

I thought it would be intriguing to construct a piece that targeted the biological pathways/genes that are supposedly involved in fostering and feeling empathy. The assertion being that fostering empathy feels under threat, and it often feels that some technology in use today is a co-conspirator.

Target DNA is also a term in the scientific community that describes an area of genetic focus, for medical research and medicine. Target in this sense has a dual meaning: it is the area we focus on for enquiry and conversely, and perhaps perversely, an assault on this very same area. The heavily textured blocks denote this tumultuous target area, within the otherwise more natural geometry of our genetic landscape.