The Humanae exhibit at Saugatuck Center for the Arts was the perfect way to punctuate our conversation on race and ethnicity this semester.
For her work entitled “Humanae,” Angelica Dass has photographed 4,000 individuals from 19 countries, matching their skin tones with Pantone’s coloring system. From refugees to students to newborns and the terminally ill, all are beautiful and valued. None are black. None are white. These Pantone colors don’t really exist in human skin. “I was born in a family full of colors,” writes Angelica, “I remember my first drawing lessons in school as a bunch of contradictory feelings. It was exciting and creative but I never understood the unique flesh-colored pencil. I was made of flesh but I wasn’t pink. My skin was brown, and people said I was black.” Angelica’s work helped our Student Advisory Council reconsider our own conceptions of identity and culture, ethnicity and race. Saugatuck Center for the Arts with the Pantone 75-7 C Erin Drews.
