Immortality

Immortality presents a model of an infinitely-reproducing cancer cell that was first identified in 1951 in Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman with unusually aggressive cervical cancer.

Lacks sought treatment at Tulane University, where a tissue sample was taken without her knowledge or consent. Researchers were astonished to find that Lacks’s cells continued to reproduce outside the body, making them ideal for biological research. This cell line, named HeLa, quickly became a standard tool in labs throughout the world. Henrietta Lacks died shortly after seeking treatment, leaving three small children. The family received no recognition or remuneration for Lacks’s world-changing contribution, even as the cell’s genome was made publicly available in 2013. Her family settled out of court in August 2023, seventy-two years after Henrietta’s death at the age of 31. Much has been made of the cell’s and Henrietta’s "immortality," however, the word seems more apt to the malignancy of racism.

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Alix Anne Shaw (Ze/Zir) is a Milwaukee-based artist and poet. Zir work has been exhibited at galleries including the Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, the Museum of Wisconsin Art, Kriti Gallery in India, and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in South Korea.

Image courtesy of the artist.

Alix Anne Shaw

March 13 - April 4, 2026 at Art City