moirae

Untitled #73 (resemblance) is from a body of work titled resemblance, which she undertook in the spring of 2001 while an artist-in-residence at the Addison Gallery in Andover, Massachusetts. This series was inspired by such literary sources as The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Tomorrows Eve by Villiers de lIsle Adam, and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, and in it, Gaskell deals with the notion of creating an artificial person. She dressed female students from Phillips Academy in Andover in white lab coats and cast them as young technicians undertaking this bizarre experiment. But unlike the protagonists in the literature that inspired her, the girls in Gaskells photographs are attempting to use their hands to build their creator, an artificial "mother." The pictures in the series suggest a disquieting narrative that is ambiguous, non-linear, and open to complex interpretations ranging from ethical debates about biotechnology and cloning to feminist issues of gaining control over ones body and self-image. In this photograph, although the "creation" is about to be unveiled, it will undoubtedly leave the viewer with more questions than answers.