I am making casts are of people who, by chance or design exist on the edge of our social order. They are not proper voting citizens, but they have lives that mesh with ours. Some of these folks are undocumented, some are legal immigrants, and many many technically be citizens by birth but simply do not function as citizens; they do not share in common benefits much, and various systems: judicial, political, and economic, disadvantage them. So they simply give up voting or no longer care.
I became interested in the idea of the differences between citizens and non-citizens after having some students who were DACA (and some with no documentation). After talking with them about what their lives were like, so uncertain and yet full of potential, I began to interview a wider group of people. I was interested in why some native born people who seemingly had the benefits of citizenship were so ambivalent about voting (last election that was 40% of the electorate) and what an interesting contrast that makes with the students who wanted above all to fully participate. I have been making head casts for years, and my good friend Jack who placed many casts of his own nicely shaped head in secret locations inspired me to think about how a similar idea could be used with people I was interviewing. The simple discovery I made had to do with the idea of 'naturalizing' cast heads and anticipating a new layer of meaning that could accrue to them.
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