The University Record, March 19, 2001

Photo story: ‘Nature of Identity’ program is March 21

Artist Heidi Dauphin, M.F.A. candidate in the School of Art and Design, and FBI agent Chris Allen will discuss ‘The Nature of Identity’ at 7 p.m. March 21 in the Exhibit Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Evolution. The program is part of the Museum’s series ‘The Nature of Art and Science,’ which pairs an artist and a scientist who work on similar subjects but to different ends. The series is co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor Art Center.

Dauphin’s artistic projects involve questions of identity and include such elements as fingerprints. Dauphin’s work above, titled ‘MMImpressions,’ is composed of 2,000 stoneware pieces and measures 72 inches by 60 inches. Dauphin is working to collect 25,000 thumbprints of different individuals, one for every year that human beings are thought to have been making art.

Allen will discuss his work as a forensic microscopist and forensic dentist, focusing on how forensic scientists study evidence to determine the identity of criminals. The high-profile 1993 Polly Klaas abduction/murder case in Petaluma, Calif., which Allen helped to solve, will serve as an example. Photo courtesy Heidi Dauphin