Curatorial Rationale

The overarching theme for this collection of works is science and humanity. I chose this theme because I have always been interested in science and hoped to explore the intersection between scientific advancements and its impact on humankind. I hoped to not just celebrate advancements fueled by human ingenuity but also comment on instances when scientific knowledge has caused harm or has the potential to cause harm. With my body of work, I hoped to impart my audience with further knowledge on how specific scientific advancements resulted in certain consequences or led to great improvements in our lives. I wanted to visually convey all at once the positive and negative aspects of what humans have achieved through scientific advancements and help viewers form a better understanding of the ethical questions we must ask when regarding scientific knowledge. 

Through exploring my theme, I employed a variety of media to convey certain messages to the audience. Several of the pieces that are less abstract were made using colored pencil. This is largely because I wanted to include certain microscopic processes to represent concepts like vaccinations or in vitro fertilization. For these pieces, I felt that a medium that would allow me to illustrate certain viruses or processes in great detail would be most suitable. For my piece, Futility, in which I hoped to illustrate the immense destruction and human suffering caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, I intentionally chose acrylic paint as my medium. I hoped for the mushroom cloud in the background to be as blinding as possible, and I thought that this would be best achieved with acrylic paint. Furthermore, I wanted to play with brushstrokes to achieve a three dimensional appearance of the piece. For my piece on breast cancer, I wanted to visually show the vast impact serious diagnoses can have on an individual’s life. Because I imagined a cancer diagnosis would feel like your life and body is breaking, I used paper to create a shattered mosaic effect. For my remaining pieces, I continued to select my media based on the concepts I hoped to convey.  

I tried to arrange my works in a way that was both visually and conceptually balanced. The Hiroshima painting is the largest in size and the only vertical painting. Furthermore, the atomic bomb is extremely bright and draws the eye. Therefore, I placed this painting in the center of all the works. Above this, I placed the space travel piece because this is the smallest piece in the collection, and if it was placed elsewhere, the display appeared unbalanced. Furthermore, because the piece is about space travel, I thought placing it at the highest point would be suitable. Following this, I placed the IVF piece to the bottom left and the genetic engineering drawing on the bottom right so that there would be visual balance between the dark colors used in these pieces. Then, I placed the breast cancer piece on the top left and the vaccination drawing on the top right. Both of these pieces have roughly the same saturation and visual weight. Lastly, I placed the two three-dimensional pieces on display stands equally distant from the center. Both of the three-dimensional artworks are roughly the same size, so placing one on the right and one on the left side maintained the visual balance of the exhibition. As I was arranging these pieces, I also made sure to stagger the pieces celebrating science with the pieces that are less positive. I briefly considered dividing the celebratory pieces from the negative ones but ultimately felt that this was visually imbalanced and gave the impression that science was strictly good or bad. As the audience views my body of work, I hope for them to be able to compare and contrast each piece with the others, acknowledging different ways science has impacted humans positively, negatively, or questionably throughout time. My goal is for viewers to ultimately come to their own conclusions on each of the topics represented by each piece and form their own opinion on how science as a whole has shaped humanity today, as well as how science will eventually shape the future.