In Fragments No Longer
Julia Pollack, a curator and creator at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, makes art based on her conversations and collaborations with scientists. When Pollack engages in dialogues with researchers at IGB, she immerses herself in their work, and then uses that information along with related imagery to build concepts for her artistic interpretations.
Her series “In Fragments No Longer” is inspired by the microbial world that envelops all living things. When we brush past strangers, share a hug with a friend, or kiss our loved ones, we share millions of microbes. The series is comprised of digital prints depicting Lysogeny broth (LB) plates that hold the personal microbes of Pollack and four collaborators: science writer and microbiologist Ananya Sen, IGB outreach manager Claudia Lutz, IGB director of core microscopy facilities Glenn Fried, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of microbiology Cari Vanderpool. In each pair of prints, Pollack and a collaborator imprinted their microbial communities on LB plates, which contain a nutritious jelly that helps bacteria grow—making visible the microbial world that binds us all together with a multitude of invisible connections.
Pollack’s work highlights the power and aesthetics of science imagery while revealing the hidden labor of research and knowledge production. “In Fragments No Longer” is part of the IGB’s Art of Science program, currently in its fourteenth year. It celebrates common ground between science and art and is representative of IGB’s mission to bring science to the community.
“In Fragments No Longer,” a series in the exhibition Julia Pollack: Collaborative Ecologies, is on exhibit through June 7, 2024, at the National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC.
