01 September 2009

As part of its ambitious season of activities focused on the endlessly fascinating topic of human identity, Wellcome Collection in London announces details of its next major temporary exhibition: 'Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives'.

This investigative exhibition will examine both objective attempts to identify us and our subjective experiences of who we actually are. Exhibition visitors will be able to explore contributions made by diverse individuals spanning the worlds of science, the arts, and history, who collectively have provided a fuller understanding of what distinguishes each one of us, as well as a set of challenging questions about our own sense of our individuality.

From the development of finger-printing and DNA techniques, to twin studies, to the challenges faced by the UK's pioneer of gender reassignment, 'Identity' is framed around eight discrete rooms each showcasing the life and work of scientists, artists, actors and ordinary people who have influenced our knowledge and insight into this vast topic.

Identity: 26 November 2009-11 April 2010
Press preview: Wednesday 25 November 9.30-13.00. A chance to preview the exhibition and meet the curators (contact Mike Findlay for details).
Venue: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
Entry is free, and there is no need to book.

Recent advances in scientific and particularly biomedical techniques have made the task of uniquely identifying each of us easier. Fingerprints, voice recognition, iris scans and DNA profiles all enable the establishment of databases that record what distinguishes you from everybody else. However, we still find the questions "who are you?" and even "who am I?" extremely difficult to answer.

"This exhibition takes a look back through history both at how science has attempted to determine human identity and at how we ceaselessly try to determine our own sense of self," explains James Peto, senior curator at Wellcome Collection. "Identity is a huge topic, so rather than trying to tackle it in one all-encompassing exhibition, we are staging a series of smaller, simultaneous, semi-discrete exhibitions, each tackling a different aspect of, or approach to, the subject."

Hugh Aldersey-Williams, co-curator of 'Identity' comments: "The topic we are examining is so complicated, we knew we had to give it a human face. So we've done this quite literally, using a fascinating array of individuals to personify aspects of the subject. Visitors will see how these individuals have informed our understanding of identity, but they will also find out unexpected things about them as people."

Each of the eight rooms will focus on an individual or individuals whose lives or achievements have influenced our thinking about human identity. The individuals are:

Sir Alec Jeffreys, a British geneticist who developed the technique of DNA profiling which is now used all over the world to assist police detective work, and also to resolve paternity and immigration disputes.

April Ashley, one of the first people in the UK to undergo gender reassignment. She then struggled for 35 years to get the reassignment officially recognised. Her story reflects an awkwardly drawn-out struggle to align two definitions of Ashley’s sex - one defined by biology and surgery, the other by state bureaucracy.

Claude Cahun, who lived in Jersey under Nazi occupation. She created a remarkable series of photographic self-portraits during the 1920s and 30s. Being both Jewish and identifying herself as lesbian, her images, as well as the basic details of her life, reveal how she flexed and adapted the nature of her identity and sexuality.

Fiona Shaw, an actress who has played a great variety of roles, from Richard II for the RSC to Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter films. Her work illuminates the unusual licence granted to actors to transgress the social expectation that we stick to being ourselves.

Sir Francis Galton, Charles Darwin's prolific, polymath cousin. Primarily a scientist, obsessed with measuring and statistically analysing vast ranges of human traits (anthropometrics), and credited with the invention of fingerprinting Galton arguably, devised a 'science of identity'.

Franz Joseph Gall, a 19th-century pioneer of phrenology, an investigation now dismissed as quack science and worse. Its subject was the measurement and correlation of skull-shape with human characteristics as diverse as criminality and creativity, analysed according to the criteria of normality, abnormality and deformity.

The Hinch Family, from Peterborough, who have had twins in their family for three generations. The youngest 'twins' (now 1 and 4 years old) were separated through the freezing and delayed development of one embryo. The father on the other hand is a conventional identical twin. He grew up sharing both genes and environment with his brother, but his daughters will challenge our preconceptions of what it means to be a twin.

Samuel Pepys, an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. The detailed private diary he kept during 1660-69 is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. Astonishingly, it was not published in a complete edition until the 1980s. Recording failings as well as achievements, it is regarded as the prototype of the diary as an honest record of the self.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes to editors

Contact:
Mike Findlay
Senior Media Officer (Wellcome Collection)
T: 020 7611 861
E: m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk

Identity events programme
A programme of topical, challenging and informative events will accompany the Identity exhibition. Issues that will be covered in the events include: the science of the National DNA Database; the ethics of erasing memories; the meaning of race; Chinese identity in the 21st century. Internationally renowned speakers from science, history and the arts will be featured in the programme. Full details of the events programme - including a new groundbreaking performance project - to be announced at the end of September.

The Identity season
The Identity exhibition and events programme are part of the Wellcome Trust's wider season of activity on the theme of Identity. Running from November 2009 to Summer 2010, the season will include performances, films, artworks, exhibitions and discussion events taking place across the UK. The season will also feature an online activity that anyone can take part in no matter where they are. Further details will be released in the autumn.

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

The Wellcome Trust's former headquarters, the Wellcome Building on London's Euston Road, has been redesigned by Hopkins Architects to become a new £30 million public venue. Free to all, Wellcome Collection explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future. The building comprises three galleries, a public events space, the Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop, conference facilities and a members' club.