Wendy McMurdo
Computer Class, Edinburgh I
Computer Class, Edinburgh I, 1997
C-print, 139 x 142 cm x 2 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur
1999-006-001
© Wendy McMurdo
b. 1962 (Edinburgh, UK), lives and works in Edinburgh, UK
Wendy McMurdo’s photographs on the theme of the doppelganger show children in a theatrical setting, but unlike old-fashioned nineteenth-century studio portraits, McMurdo uses cutting-edge technology to clone the children and confront them with themselves – ‘Well hello, who are you?’ She generates multiple perspectives and identities, expanding space and time to create images of a world that cannot be experienced in any conventional way. The levity of the children’s facial expressions contrasts with the seriousness of their situation: it is no longer possible to determine what is real (whether they are actual twins) and what is artificial; whether the photo is untouched or manipulated; which is the original sitter and which is the clone.