Cyborg Hybrid \'cy·borg 'hi·brid\ n
Essay by Steve Loft
Cyborg Hybrid \'cy·borg 'hi·brid\ n
Hy-brid : anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds.
Cy-borg: cybernetic + organism, a person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by machine technology
For KC Adams, the intersection of organic technological and socio-cultural evolutions presents a realm of speculative invention. With Cyborg Hybrids, she presents a wholly different perspective of our possible future while holding a mirror to our collective past.
In Cyborg Hybrids, Adams presents a cross cultural, as well as bio-technologic ideal, an intriguing interplay of contemporary race politics and analytical detachment. Her portraits are, at once beautiful, sensuous and powerful, compelling and somewhat threatening (depending on your politics) visions of an indigenous hybrid world. Theirs is an Indigeneity based on strength (power), unity, persistence and survival.
These cyborgs obviously inhabit a much different reality than we’re used to seeing in futurist theoretics and sci-fi narratives. Adams seeks to inhabit the world of the trans-biological and of manufactured “idols” with a radical indigeneity. All Adams’ models are of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry. In her words, “the subjects are Euro-Aboriginal artists who are forward thinkers; plugged in with technology.”
Her use of theatrical staging give her portraits a contemporary, celebrity feel that belies their subversive and specific political edge. Her puns and double entendres, hand beaded and chosen by her subjects, speak to a shared politic in a way that is layered with cultural significance and poignancy.
And, Adams has gone further and created a range of “cyborg hybrid accessories” to complement her portraits and animate them. She employs the marketing strategies of “lifestyle technology” so common today. She takes our current obsession with portable, and personal technology (i-everything) and subverts it to her own deliciously ironic ends.
Her choice of white, as an aesthetic as well as histori-cultural choice posits a post-victim stance and articulates a clearly anti-colonial perspective to the purposefully “cover girl” ( or guy) style of the photographs and the hip-ness of the accessories. Here, she presents two contemporary phenomenon; the hybridization (or “half-breed-ing”) of culture and our obsession with technology and wraps them in a glitzy and beautiful package, but with a sharp political and satiric edge.
Hy-brid : anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds.
Cy-borg: cybernetic + organism, a person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by machine technology
For KC Adams, the intersection of organic technological and socio-cultural evolutions presents a realm of speculative invention. With Cyborg Hybrids, she presents a wholly different perspective of our possible future while holding a mirror to our collective past.
In Cyborg Hybrids, Adams presents a cross cultural, as well as bio-technologic ideal, an intriguing interplay of contemporary race politics and analytical detachment. Her portraits are, at once beautiful, sensuous and powerful, compelling and somewhat threatening (depending on your politics) visions of an indigenous hybrid world. Theirs is an Indigeneity based on strength (power), unity, persistence and survival.
These cyborgs obviously inhabit a much different reality than we’re used to seeing in futurist theoretics and sci-fi narratives. Adams seeks to inhabit the world of the trans-biological and of manufactured “idols” with a radical indigeneity. All Adams’ models are of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry. In her words, “the subjects are Euro-Aboriginal artists who are forward thinkers; plugged in with technology.”
Her use of theatrical staging give her portraits a contemporary, celebrity feel that belies their subversive and specific political edge. Her puns and double entendres, hand beaded and chosen by her subjects, speak to a shared politic in a way that is layered with cultural significance and poignancy.
And, Adams has gone further and created a range of “cyborg hybrid accessories” to complement her portraits and animate them. She employs the marketing strategies of “lifestyle technology” so common today. She takes our current obsession with portable, and personal technology (i-everything) and subverts it to her own deliciously ironic ends.
Her choice of white, as an aesthetic as well as histori-cultural choice posits a post-victim stance and articulates a clearly anti-colonial perspective to the purposefully “cover girl” ( or guy) style of the photographs and the hip-ness of the accessories. Here, she presents two contemporary phenomenon; the hybridization (or “half-breed-ing”) of culture and our obsession with technology and wraps them in a glitzy and beautiful package, but with a sharp political and satiric edge.
Steve Loft