For over fifty years, Lynn Hershman Leeson has created an innovative and prescient body of work that mines the intersections of technology and the self. Known for her groundbreaking contributions to media art, Hershman Leeson has consistently worked with the latest technologies, from Artificial Intelligence to DNA programming, often anticipating the impact of technological developments on society. As the artist posited in 1998, “Imagine a world in which there is a blurring between the soul and the chip, a world in which artificially implanted DNA is genetically bred to create an enlightened and self-replicating intelligent machine, which perhaps uses a human body as a vehicle for mobility.”

The present work depicts an x-ray of Hershman Leeson’s brain which revealed the discovery of a tumor, together with a partial cast of Bruce Conner’s face, a fellow artist and close friend. An early example within the artist’s oeuvre, this work explores experimental representations of the body and technology, lasting themes in the artist’s evolving practice.