DBDW (Double Blind Double Wide)
Cooperative Lifestyles of the Naked Mole Rat. 2004
Naked mole-rats are the only true eusocial mammals. Living cooperatively, the blind, practically hairless naked mole-rats thrive in their arid subterranean environment by employing efficient strategies between themselves, and with their food sources, to survive. These cooperative strategies range from the sharing of labor, to preserving the continued life of primary food sources, to a unique physiology which allows for the adult queen rat to extend her body- by elongating the space between rear vertebrae, in order to accommodate large litters of the sand puppies.
“DBDW” celebrates cooperation in a series of vignettes that double as insignia. The critical celebration embraces a double-edged efficacy of the model of double-blind studies, where trust lives along-side doubt, in this case, trust in the other hosts doubt that such an alien species is of relevance.
The project was created especially for “Colony”, a group show curated by Alisa Ochoa on the theme of collectivity and collaboration, exhibited at the Donna Beam Gallery, University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Scale of the digitally produced, wall adhered images, runs on average 13’x10’.
