Trump as Five Different Races (2016) is a five-part image of Donald Trump portrayed as Black, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Indian, respectively, representing a continuation of the artist’s pioneering work challenging photographic truth via digital morphing technologies. Originally commissioned for a prominent magazine, which ultimately decided not to publish it, the work sees Nancy Burson delve into the psychology of Trump’s sense of self and try to understand what sort of empathy the then-presidential candidate might possess for people of colour should he encounter images of himself presented as various races, and how subsequent policy could be impacted. Trump as Five Different Races explores the fictionalised biological differences that render us as different, whilst underscoring the race we all have in common: the human race.
Trump/Putin (2018) is a video work in which Donald Trump’s face morphs into Vladimir Putin’s, and back again. Referencing the pair’s meeting at the Helsinki summit in 2018, the transitions represent the conflict between Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russian state and the question of whether Russian meddling influenced the 2016 presidential election.
