IMAGINING THE POSTHUMAN

 Imagining The Posthuman Gouache on paper 42 x 30 cm 2016

Yes! Another posthuman painting for you. But in this case the posthuman could be a posthuman entity/being or the posthuman era or the posthuman place. Imagining The Posthuman, as a title, could be 'read' a few ways. I quite like that, because whilst people think about posthumanism, I do not think we are already posthuman. We maybe transhuman, to varying degrees...pacemakers, hearing aids, drug enhancements, plastic surgery and so on...BUT

I wonder if we know enough about human capabilities. What if we become fully transhuman with machine, bio-tech and artificial intelligence 'enhancements' before we understand why some people know when a loved one has died, or that someone is about to ring, or even how an artist creates a painting from imagination. What if we ignore these things and then they are forgotten, no longer experienced. What if these human attributes hold keys to even more impressive outcomes than merging with machines?

There are a lot of questions to be asked!

Imagining The Posthuman
This new painting is similar to some other recent posthuman paintings. I did say I was having fun, didn't I!? This painting is less defined yet still includes my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life. Unlike previous paintings this one has only one string of binary code 00111111 to form the backbone or trunk...or is it suggestive of a map, or maybe stepping stones? 00111111 is code for ?

Even though the painting has a figurative quality, it also has a sense of landscape, and I suggest it is also futuristic. So, it could be a posthuman entity ie: not human but some kind of presence? Or, it could represent the posthuman habitat which may not be tangible or material but rather systemic? Or it could represent a time in a far distant future thousands of years after humanity became extinct? Maybe it is all three entwined?

BUT

For the time being, we are still human. Phew! We may be flawed, in varying degrees, but let's make sure we give ourselves, and future generations, the time to develop in ways where reflection, critique, research, understanding and compassion drive our energies, rather than fear and haste.

My painting Keep Us Human has the word 'Human' painted repeatedly around an orange/red circle. I imagine this circle to be the 21st century and the emanating lines the various choices of futures humanity might have.

                                Keeping Us Human Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

My Future Posthuman? 
Is This A Posthuman?
Cheers,
Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com