Ellen Sandor & (art)n

An immersive collage of paintings are interwoven with scientific renderings and a provocative, intergenerational narrative that explores one family’s challenges with overcoming their genetic disposition for the BRCA-Gene. Drawing inspiration from Ellen Sandor and (art)n’s recent collaboration with Jennifer Doudna, who along with Emmanuelle Carpenter was awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of CRISPR, this work confounds viewers through a journey of strength, hope, and beauty.

As heroines of STEM, Doudna and Carpenter became the sixth and seventh women to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their breakthrough genetics research. As described by Doudna, CRISPR is used as a gene-editing tool to cut DNA at precise places within a cell to replace/repair sequences that may be causing a disease, including autism and cancer. It is hopeful that it can be used to heal patients diagnosed with the BRCA-Gene, increasing mortality rates and potentially reversing women’s family DNA inheritance to break women free from the cycle of this threatening disease.

As a visual artist and curator, Caren Helene Rudman endured life-saving surgeries to overcome her inherited genetic affliction with the BRCA-Gene. Rudman created an ethereal canvas portfolio, capturing her process of grieving and releasing her personal experiences to inspire other  women’s healing journeys through artistic expression. 

The textures comprised of her mixed media paintings infuse the scientific, sculptural renderings and virtual expression of CRISPR, creating pathways of healing that combine science and art. To create an appliqué collage of photographs by women artists to embellish the piece, (art)n included inspiring artworks from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection, featuring Diane Arbus, Dora Maar, Judy Dater, and other women artists, revealing a feminist gaze of the female form, captured from pivotal moments in art history.