Johanna Zellmer

My doctoral project Contemporary jewellery as affective experience — resisting biopolitics was exhibited in the Wellington studio of visual artist Elizabeth Thomson. Collars and chokers were made from used Illumina flow cells, waste products of the data collection technology known as DNA sequencing. Both jewellery and genomics are instruments of identity construction: the former a technology of the self and the latter a study of human bodies through scientific observation. The processes of handling, wearing, witnessing, and responding to the work invited tactile engagement, close observation, and an affective and interpersonal embodied experience, contributing to a collective awareness of the complexities of biotechnology.