Faces, 2025 at Baltimore Museum of Art
Mushroom Spores Accompany Us at Every Step.
They are present in the air, they land on our bodies, objects, winds, and in our airways. The presence of these tiny microorganisms is made visible by artist and biologist Selin Balci. What appears to be the disintegration of a face is, in fact, another kind of portrait—and a proposal to question how identities are constructed.
In many cultures, identity is closely tied to the face. Selin Balci subverts this by reshaping the face in photographs using microorganisms, including mold spores. So what can we actually see here?
Using a Polaroid instant camera, she photographs individuals and also collects samples from their bodies—such as hair or skin swabs. With the help of a nutrient medium, fungal growth appears on the Polaroids: delicate fungal threads spread across the photo paper, giving each person a new appearance.
The resulting images differ greatly from one another, because each person has a unique composition of microorganisms on and inside their body (in the gut, on the skin, mucous membranes, genitals, etc.)—what is referred to as the microbiome.
Balci’s portraits propose a new way of thinking about identity—as truly multilayered, in every sense of the word. The poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) likely wasn’t thinking of microorganisms when he wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” And yet, so it is.
KATHRIN MEYER, journal culinaire, 11.13.2024
They are present in the air, they land on our bodies, objects, winds, and in our airways. The presence of these tiny microorganisms is made visible by artist and biologist Selin Balci. What appears to be the disintegration of a face is, in fact, another kind of portrait—and a proposal to question how identities are constructed.
In many cultures, identity is closely tied to the face. Selin Balci subverts this by reshaping the face in photographs using microorganisms, including mold spores. So what can we actually see here?
Using a Polaroid instant camera, she photographs individuals and also collects samples from their bodies—such as hair or skin swabs. With the help of a nutrient medium, fungal growth appears on the Polaroids: delicate fungal threads spread across the photo paper, giving each person a new appearance.
The resulting images differ greatly from one another, because each person has a unique composition of microorganisms on and inside their body (in the gut, on the skin, mucous membranes, genitals, etc.)—what is referred to as the microbiome.
Balci’s portraits propose a new way of thinking about identity—as truly multilayered, in every sense of the word. The poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) likely wasn’t thinking of microorganisms when he wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” And yet, so it is.
KATHRIN MEYER, journal culinaire, 11.13.2024
Baker Artist Awards April 27, 2025 — July 27, 2025
Overview
Overview
The 2025 Baker Artist Awards exhibition at the BMA showcases the work of five artists: 2019 winner Selin Balci, 2023 winners Oletha DeVane and Jordan Tierney, and 2024 winners Stephen Towns and Kelley Bell. These artists—who span media, style, and generations—are each grounded in histories and stories related to spirituality, place, and identity deeply connected to the Baltimore region, its ecology, and people. The themes and narratives presented in this group exhibition also resonate with the BMA’s Turn Again to the Earth initiative.
Curated by Katie Cooke, BMA Manager of Curatorial Affairs, and Antoinette Roberts, BMA Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art.