Collage is in my DNA…or vice versa?

Why does science keep sneaking into my art? I have no affinity for it. In high school, I tried (unsuccessfully) to convince my physics teacher that molecules didn't exist. I believe in them now, but don't like to think about them…or about other tiny particles that make me up. Like DNA. 


This spread in my art journal started with photos from an old college yearbook. I felt compelled to carve them with an Xacto knife, accidentally producing an homage to one of my favorite artists, Ellen Gallagher, and her huge work Deluxe, which I saw a few months back at the Bellevue Arts Museum.

I placed the graduates on opposite journal pages, on top of a grey argyle background. I wasn't thinking "DNA" at first. But then, looking for some text, I found strings of chromosomes that looked exactly like writing. Writing that didn't say anything (at least to this non-scientist). After that, everything quickly fell into place.

Here's the full spread.

So collage is in my DNA, and vice versa.