IN 2018, Jes Fan, then in residence at Brooklyn arts nonprofit Recess, approached a local for-hire synthetic-biology lab with an unusual request. The artist, whose conceptually and materially complex work often showcases his facility with glassblowing which he sharpened while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design commissioned the laboratory to synthesize eumelanin for use as a sculptural material. The black or brown biopigment is found in organisms across taxonomic kingdoms. Among humans, however, it is racialized matter, synonymous with phenotypic constructions that have historically