The Italian Navigator Has Landed in the New World, 2014

Archival Pigment Print on Cotton Rag
32 x 42 in
2014

The photograph depicts a stack of silicon face shields molded for the face of the first CPR dummy, Resusci Anne. Because the Mannekin has been in production and used in CPR training since 1958, the face is known as "the most kissed face" of all time.” The face of Resusci Anne was modeled on L'Inconnue de la Seine (the unknown woman of the Seine), the death mask of an unidentified young woman reputedly drowned in the River Seine around the late 1880s. Some have credited L'Inconnue de la Seine as the first celebrity and reproductions of the mask made their way into homes across Europe. The original cast was photographed, and new casts were created back from the film negatives. Accounts as to the origin of the initial casting vary.