Science is something beautiful in Geneotropes

Television has made the science of genetics seem familiar to many of us. Looking closer, the true complexity of our make-up still seems light-years away from our full comprehension. In Geneotropes, a new, one-person exhibition by Assistant Professor of Photography Stefan Petranek, art helps illuminate the world of genetics on micro and macro levels.

About Geneotropes, which will fill the Basile Gallery at Herron School of Art and Design from August 3 – 26, Petranek, who earned a master of fine arts degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology and completed his undergraduate work in biology and chemistry at Bowdoin College, says, “The increasingly commonplace deployment of genetics to characterize life is shifting how we represent nature and ourselves in our cultural discourses. This exhibition brings together three bodies of work that investigate different facets of the human-genetic relationship and its burgeoning cultural relevance in daily life.”

Combining cast glass and video, the work "Glass Skin" displays Petranek’s skin imperfections and sites of previous surgeries through four glass tablets embossed with DNA coding for a protein involved in the onset of melanoma.

"Nine Leaves" is a series of photographs of oak leaves from the same tree. Each leaf was embossed with the DNA that codes for an enzyme involved in the Calvin Cycle (the principle mechanism that makes photosynthesis possible). The work invites the viewer to consider the individuality of each leaf despite their shared genome.

"Human Nature" is a site-specific installation involving typed code.

The works reflect amazement at discoveries made through genetic research while also drawing into question whether our belief in science and technology really benefits us at both the societal and individual levels.