Anthro(A)pology

About this book

"[E]xamines the way in which pseudo-scientific images, charts, diagrams, and other supposedly factual representations have been used for over five centuries to 'teach racism.' The book pairs images from official texts with the artist's own imagined apologies, which are written not only in the literary style of the time, but also in the appropriate handwriting. The images, which reflect a wide array of attitudes--naïve, condescending, paternalistic, prurient, voyeuristic, anthropomorphic, xenophobic, and outright hateful--are counter-balanced by responses that are equally varied in style, attitude, and sincerity. Throughout the book, color is used as a symbol--to mirror the myriad, deceptive, and often visually-pleasing guise in which racism is presented. The artist uses her 'apologia' as both scathing commentary and as a context for interpreting the images (which range from the seemingly innocuous to the incomprehensibly scientific)"--Minnesota Center for Book Arts Prize website, viewed on August 25, 2015.