Valerie Huhn: 
A Life Rebuilt in Fingerprints

Fingerprints were once used as a symbolic action of pride, but in our society they have become a passive action—we are fingerprinted. We can use our fingerprints to unlock the data troves of our own phones, but others—often police—can also force us to open those electronic extensions of self. I am interested in bringing humanity back to the fingerprint—whether in obsessive repetitious patterns or the intimate setting of a personal bureau that houses our second skin.

The fingerprint work in this series is created with my right index finger. Each print is catalogued with the date it was created beneath it. The work revolves around identity—identifying and categorizing people into groups and subgroups within society. It is the notion of a fixed self or our identification of others that I am challenging, using color, shape, and pressure of every print—along with its accompanying date.

Bio
Valerie Huhn works in a variety of media from drawing and video to mixed-media, sculpture, and site-specific installation. Her work has been shown throughout the United States and internationally. She has received numerous awards for her work. Residencies include time in Long Beach Island, NJ, Aspen, CO, chashama in New York City and a residency at Aferro Studios in Newark, NJ. Her work is included in the former Bell Telephone Building in Newark, The Fortune Society, and private collections. In 2022, she received a New Jersey Council of the Arts award. Valerie holds degrees in graphic design, photography and fine arts from Parsons, New School and San Francisco Art Institute. Valerie lives and works in Flemington, NJ. Her work is represented by Ivy Brown Gallery.