One, is the number divided by, two is a painting duplicate of the documentation from Phinthong’s 2013 solo exhibition Broken Hill at Chisenhale Gallery. It is part of a recent series in which Phinthong has been collaborating with a painter to copy photorealistically online photo documentation of Phinthong’s works. Here, a digital photograph, a reproducible material, is reproduced again but manually by someone other than the author; as a result, it becomes a unique work of art that cannot be reproduced again. 

The exhibition and project Broken Hill explores the provenance of the ‘Broken Hill’ skull in the Lusaka National Museum, Zambia collection. Phinthong started the research after hearing a rumor that it was a fake, and the original is housed at the Natural History Museum in London. Soon after confirming that it is true, Phinthong traced back to the network of individuals who were involved in the making of its history. 

The ‘Broken Hill’ skull is the first early human fossil found in Africa, which became crucial evidence for the theory of human evolution positioning the origin of recent ancestors of Homo Sapiens in sub-Saharan Africa. It was originally discovered by Zambian miners at a lead and zinc mine in 1921 in Kabwe, Zambia, and was taken to the Natural History Museum in London. 

At Chisenhale Gallery, Phinthong exhibited the replica skull loaned from the Lusaka Museum, as well as another copy he bought online. He also invited Kamfwa Chishala, the Lusaka National Museum guide, who had been telling the visitors the journey of the replica skull, fused with his autobiographical accounts. Chishala retold the story throughout the exhibition in London. Along with the painting One, is the number divided by, two, Phinthong continues to question the autonomy and ownership of art, contingent on its materiality and maker and its status as a commodity and documentation.