Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016
Oct 28, 2016–Feb 5, 2017
Lynn Hershman Leeson
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Since the mid-1960s, Lynn Hershman Leeson has been exploring the relationship between identity, gender, and technology in her work, adopting the female cyborg as a figure of transformative power.
Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941), X-Ray Woman, 1963
Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941), X-Ray Woman, 1963. Acrylic, graphite, and ink on canvas, 36 5/8 × 19 1/4 in. (93 × 48.8 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York © Lynn Hershman Leeson; photograph by Marc Brems Tatti; image courtesy Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York
For her, the body is akind of programmable software, allowing the self to appear in various hybrid forms. In cyborg drawings such as X-Ray Woman (1966), the female body is rendered transparent, revealing a mixture of internal organs and machine parts that suggests a kind of collaborative relationship with her technological environment.