Penny Stamps Speaker Series Presents Transgender Activist Chelsea Manning and Heather Dewey-Hagborg

The University of Michigan's Stamps School of Art & Design prides itself on its "diversity, equity and inclusion." The school, which requires an "international experience" for each of its students to make them more worldly, describes itself as an institution that prepares students to "think in new ways, to educate them to become concerned world citizens, and to equip them with the skills for life-long accomplishment."
One of its methods to ensure that is its regular speaker series, and on March 15 it will feature Chelsea Manning. Manning rose to fame when she released sensitive information to Wikileaks.
Manning is an LGBTQ rights activist, she is a transgender woman who also campaigns for governmental transparency. Manning will speak from personal experience as she talks about the "social, technological and economic ramifications of artificial intelligence and on the practical applications of machine learning," the schools' website said.
Manning joined the U.S. Department of Defense as an intelligence analyst, and during her time there she publicly released classified documents that she felt revealed human rights abuses.
For her actions, she was tried and sentenced to 35 years in military prison, but after serving only seven years, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence. Joining Manning's presentation will be Heather Dewey-Hagborg, who is a bio-political artist and educator who will be collaborating with Manning during her presentation the school's website said.
"Dewey-Hagborg received cheek swabs and hair clippings from Manning to create DNA-derived sculptural portraits," it said. "The work illustrates a multitude of ways in which DNA can be interpreted."
The presentation will be held on Thursday, March 15 at 5:10 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. The theater is located at 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor. This event is free. More information acan be found online at stamps.umich.edu/stamps/detail/chelsea_manning.