McMaster Film Production Club co-presidents, Amanda Dam and Hala Jaber, discuss what their new club has to offer students
Breaking into the film industry can be an uphill battle, especially as students, who often have little to no connections within show biz and lack any previous experience to qualify for opportunities in the present. Upon realizing this collective struggle among their peers, two McMaster University students, Amanda Dam and Hala Jaber, looked for a way to bridge this gap between theory and practice. Now the co-presidents of the newly ratified McMaster Film Production Club, Dam and Jaber sat down to talk with the Silhouette about how the club came to be, the production for the club’s first short film, what students can look forward to and the importance of fostering young filmmakers.
Before we start, could you tell me a little bit about yourselves and what you were doing before MFPC?
Amanda Dam: I’m currently a fourth-year student enrolled in the Arts and Science program combined with Media Arts program.
Hala Jaber: I’m in my fourth-year pursuing an honours degree in Media Arts. Amanda and I first met during our second year of university as coworkers and instantly bonded over our mutual passion for film and media production.
Why did you start MFPC and when did it go from idea to conception?
Jaber: After our second year, we felt that McMaster lacked a community for students interested and passionate about film production. We shared this vision of having a film or media production club that could unite students interested in film and provide a platform for collaborative projects. The idea had always been there, but we started taking it seriously during the summer of 2022 while we were sitting in a dessert restaurant.
Dam : And when we presented the proposal in December 2022, the response was incredible. We had around 100 students sign up, and that’s when we knew that our idea was becoming a reality. Since then, MFPC has been a club that works towards bringing together passionate students and fostering a vibrant creative community on campus.
That’s amazing to hear. For students who may still be hesitating, what can they expect from joining?
Jaber: Joining MFPC as a team member means gaining hands-on film production experience and collaborating with other McMaster students on the creation of a film throughout the academic year. Students are given the chance to be involved in various film production stages, including script writing, cinematography, sound design, and post-production.
Dam: The club also aims to give members the chance to contribute to all of these stages. It provides an excellent opportunity for students interested in the film industry to gain resume-worthy experience while also connecting with others who share similar interests.
Why do you think it’s important to support young filmmakers and creatives?
Jaber : We believe it is important to support independent and student-made films and creatives, as it gives the opportunity to promote diversity, different perspectives and representation of various issues.
Dam : It is also important to support fellow students and to listen to what they have to say. Student-made films foster a supportive community of those who share the same passion.
To become a MFPC member, check out a club membership here and visit the club’s Instagram page @McMasterFilm for the latest updates.
The Silhouette: Please introduce yourself.
Tinson Chen: My name is Tinson Chen. I'm a fourth-year student in the arts and science program and combining with computer science. I use he and him pronouns and I am the President of the Students’ Association of Arts and Science Students and the [Vice President] of engagement of the McMaster AI Society.
How did you become interested in AI?
The pivot to the liberal arts was a decision I made near the end of high school. Once I'd gotten into the program and knew I wanted to stay, I got involved with the student politics of [the program]. I was a year [representative], senior program advisor and now the president. It was a good last opportunity to bring back a bunch of sorts of traditions that the last pre-pandemic year of students know. The reason I got into AI was that it's the most cutting-edge thing. The way I started with Mac AI was that I was a humanities and social science coordinator since they all have different faculty coordinators. For science and engineering, it's clearer how it relates to AI. Whereas, in the humanities and social sciences, [there’s] less obvious connection to machine learning. So, my big role was getting humanities and social science people to be interested in it.
Why did you make that turn to liberal arts?
I wanted to keep my options open. It was the end of high school and I was talking to my guidance counsellor. I was interested in a lot of stuff, into trivia too, and she told me: "Hey, there's this program that's pretty reputable and let’s you pursue everything you want to do." She was talking about artsci. I also really wanted a well-rounded education and to avoid tunnel vision for AI. I think the liberal arts can really inform the philosophy and the ethics of AI.
Considering the breadth of your interests, do you know what you would like to pursue after your undergraduate degree?
My interests, academically at least, are to do with natural language and getting computers to create natural language. If we were to create a computer that could actually convince a human of its humanity, that is sort of equivalent to solving the problem. I feel like the channel of language is the key to what we call intelligence. So that's what motivates me and why I'm pursuing a minor in linguistics as well. Non-academically, I wouldn't mind taking a couple years to cook around different places, learn different techniques and travel a little bit. You know, just learn the ins and outs of cooking.
I feel like the channel of language is the key to what we call intelligence.
Tinson Chen
When did you become passionate about cooking?
Wow, this is really making me realize how much I've changed going into university. This was only for the last bit of high school. Once I got to university, I was in Bates and had a kitchen. This gave me the chance to cook a lot more and get the ingredients to experiment with.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Maybe Parkinson's Law: work expands to fill time. You can do as much as you'd like. You just have to do it all shoddily.
You can do as much as you'd like. You just have to do it all shoddily.
Tinson Chen
C/O Kilyan Sockalingum (Unsplash)
With dramatic ups and downs, take an exclusive look into the rigorous process of student-produced musicals
McMaster Arts and Science Musical: “An Inquiry Line”
Waiting in anticipation to enter the interview that will determine if they speak for the voice of a generation as valedictorians, five arts and science students reflect on their time in the arts and science program. With elaborate choreography, each main character had a musical number that represented a throwback to their time within the program and conveyed their internal battles.
Loosely based on the well-known musical “The Chorus Line,” the annual arts and science musical “The Inquiry Line” took place at The Zoetic Theatre on March 18 and 19.
Elle Klassen is a fourth-year arts and science student casted to play the role of Jordan, a disenchanted arts and science student and one of the five potential valedictorian interviewees. Jordan’s song was a rendition of “Cell Block Tango” from the musical “Chicago,” where they sing of their perils within first-year arts and science courses.
“My character Jordan was intended to be the former gifted child archetype. They had a tough time balancing work and school as they came from a rural, low-income background. They are intended to be a little unpleasant and are irritated by people who had a lot of school spirit. Throughout the musical Jordan reconnects with art-sci to realize the value of their experiences within the program,” explained Klassen.
Given that auditions were held early October, the musical was an accumulation of almost five months of effort with cast members partaking in four-hour rehearsals on top of academic obligations every week. Two months before the performance dates, rehearsals comprised of the entire weekend.
To further immerse themselves in their role, Klassen and her castmates would contemplate the attributes they thought their characters would exhibit, such as what type of person the character would be and their visual aesthetics. This process aided in the main cast being able to learn their lines more naturally as they developed an increasing sense of the different intersections of the student experience that their characters were intended to portray.
“I didn’t even have to work on my lines that much outside of rehearsal because of how much initiative the main cast took to learn about their parts. While everybody was amazing and supportive, I thought the creative team could have taken more of a hands-on approach to show greater initiative,” said Klassen.
"I didn’t even have to work on my lines that much outside of rehearsal because of how much initiative the main cast took to learn about their parts. While everybody was amazing and supportive, I thought the creative team could have taken more of a hands-on approach to show greater initiative."
Elle Klassen, fourth-year arts and science student cast to play the role of Jordan in "An Inquiry Line"
Boasting two directors, two vocal directors, two choreographers and one conductor, members of the musical team with experience in previous arts and science musicals found this production to be particularly well organized. This was especially evident during the notoriously hectic tech week, the week leading up to the musical.
“The dress rehearsals leading up to the show were extremely chaotic, but somehow everything always comes together by the performance day. I was so impressed by the backstage managers who managed to handle last minute issues that popped up with a lot of grace. The closing night was amazing,” said Klassen
Health Sciences Musical: “Healthsci Hears a WHO?”
The HSM is a fully student-run musical, written, produced and performed by students to raise funds for charity. This year the HSM geared its donations to the Black Health Sciences Bursary and the Arts for all Co.
Following along a theme of graduation and identity, the plot revolves around the entire graduating health sciences cohort being given a task whose only instructions are a single word: “Who?” The catch is everybody must pass this task in order to graduate and if there is even one individual who fails at the task then nobody graduates.
Yuna, one of the leading characters played by second-year health sciences student Sarah Baik struggles under the shadow of an overachieving brother as she attempts to change herself to fit in by trying her luck at popularity. Her character explores the themes of retaining friendships and sibling dynamics within the context of contemporary student experience. After an emotional fight with her seemingly perfect brother who is only trying to look out for his sister as she strays further from her authentic self, Baik’s character does her main vocal number to the tune of “Choose to Be Mine” from Waitress the Musical.
During the writing process, the entire team of over 80 people contributed towards finding melodies and lyrics that would best represent each character. Everyone voted on final song and lyrics selections and whichever one received the most was selected collectively.
Rehearsals took place for five hours every Sunday, with the first couple of hours being spent with the vocal directors learning the musical numbers, the middle hours spent with the choreographers and the last hours being used to run scenes from top to bottom. Shows were set to run at the Zoetic Theater and the team even arranged special public transport routes to safely allow audiences to attend and exit the performance.
“My experience in the role was super positive, we all learned and grew together. The team is super talented and there is a lot to learn from them. I got to meet a lot of people across the years which was something unique. Sometimes you have a test on Monday, but you have rehearsal on Sundays. It taught me a lot about time management which was good for learning self-discipline,” explained Baik.
"My experience in the role was super positive, we all learned and grew together. The team is super talented and there is a lot to learn from them. I got to meet a lot of people across the years which was something unique. Sometimes you have a test on Monday, but you have rehearsal on Sundays. It taught me a lot about time management which was good for learning self-discipline."
SARAH BAIK, SECOND-YEAR HEALTH SCIENCES STUDENT CAST to Play Yuna in "Healthsci hears a who?"
Unfortunately, the HSM was cancelled on its opening night due to members of the team testing positive for COVID-19 just a few hours prior to performance.
Upon tensely deliberating on which direction to take following this turn of events with the venue for performances already booked and paying audiences at stake, the team made a decision to prioritize collective safety, even at the cost of months of their hard work.
“There were a lot of devastating emotions because it got cancelled. It didn’t hit me until an hour or so after I got the news. Everyone knew this was a possibility, but no one was prepared for it to happen. It was a tough decision because you felt like you let a lot of people down, not only the show organizers but also the audience. It was difficult but at least we had each other and got stronger,” said Baik.
Through it all, Baik and her cast mates praise the efforts of the production team who took the time to listen and validate the opinions of all cast members before deciding on a final decision to cancel the musical. The production team stayed strong for the rest of the team amidst the myriad of feelings about COVID-19 and the restrictions it brought forth.
“We all were depressed for a good few days after, processing the grief, but we are back and moving on knowing it was for the best. A lot of bonding came out of this as nobody understood our frustrations as well as the HSM team,” said Baik.
The HSM is now exploring other avenues to deliver its shows at later dates.
Theses aren’t beneficial for students who aren’t interested in research
C/O Ousa Chea on Unsplash
With the winter term wrapping up, many students in their final year are also wrapping up their thesis projects. Thesis projects are multi-unit courses that can range from six units to as large as 15 units. It’s a large research project that many students spend several hours on throughout their final year.
While not all programs are required to do a thesis project, some programs do require one, including health sciences, integrated science and arts and science. However, a year-long thesis is a big undertaking for most students. Although thesis projects have faculty supervisors, most of the research you done independently.
While not all programs are required to do a thesis project, some programs do require one, including health sciences, integrated science and arts and science. However, a year-long thesis is a big undertaking for most students.
For example, I’m doing a thesis this year. As part of my project, I’m doing a literature review, which involves looking at academic articles on my topics and analyzing current methods, findings and theories in the existing literature. Most of my work involves sitting at a computer, looking at articles by myself. I do have a meeting with my supervisor every week, but even that is mostly self-conducted: I ask my supervisor questions regarding my thesis and outline what I’ve done so far.
I enjoy my thesis topic and I think what I’m doing is important. Yet, even I run into issues and struggle with completing my thesis. I’m sure it’s even more difficult for those that don’t enjoy doing a thesis project. Thus, doing a thesis should be something that is optional for students to partake in.
For one, not everyone wants to pursue research in the future. A thesis can be very valuable when it comes to developing your research skills, but not everyone is interested in doing research after their final year. Some students who finish their undergraduate degree go directly into the workforce, some students complete further studies but opt for a course-based graduate or professional program and some students just simply don’t like research.
If you don’t like research, it can be hard to write a research-based thesis. Even if you do like research, thesis projects typically require you to come up with a new spin on an idea or a theory and not everyone has the capacity to do that. You may like researching topics, but only things that already exist in the literature, such as researching for a project or presentation in a molecular mechanism.
If you don’t like research, it can be hard to write a research-based thesis. Even if you do like research, thesis projects typically require you to come up with a new spin on an idea or a theory and not everyone has the capacity to do that.
Furthermore, some students gain more from doing course-based work. Maybe taking a presentation-based course, an inquiry course or a lecture-based course is something that is really up their alley. Since we’re paying for our education, shouldn’t we have a say on how we want to learn? Having requirements for certain courses makes sense because, at the end of the day, we’re getting a degree in a specific field.
However, we should have the option to choose the way we learn our required content. If we need to learn about molecular biology, we should have the option to do a thesis, but also have the option to do a project, paper or presentation on it instead.
The need for optional thesis projects is further exacerbated by this year being online. Many students are facing burnout. As we hit the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, it’s important to acknowledge the higher levels of stress that students may be experiencing as well as the decreased motivation that has afflicted us by storm.
Being motivated enough to do self-directed research on top of the pandemic can be incredibly difficult; thus, it is important to consider making thesis courses optional — and especially so this year.
By making thesis projects optional, students will have the opportunity to choose whether a thesis is the best choice for their learning. Some degrees, such as programs under the department of health, aging and society as well as the English and cultural studies program already have optional theses. If optional thesis projects are doable in these programs, they should be doable for every other program, too.
A record 79 candidates were vying for a position on the McMaster Students Union Student Representative Assembly general elections, which ended last Monday.
Seventy-nine candidates competed for 31 SRA seats across all faculties, the highest number ever.
Last year, there were just 41 candidates running for 31 seats. Two years ago, there were 50 candidates.
The highest number of candidates came from the SRA science and SRA social science faculties.
Twenty-five candidates ran for seven seats for science, while 16 candidates ran for five seats in social science.
In 2018, there were just nine and five candidates for the science and social science faculties.
Candidate turnout was higher than last year for other faculties as well.
SRA commerce had eight candidates running for four seats this year compared to five candidates last year, and the arts and science faculty had four nominees running for one seat compared to one nominee last year.
Voter turnout was markedly high as well. Twenty per cent of undergraduate students, or a total of 4283, voted in the SRA generals election, a dramatic increase from last year’s election, which saw 1064 voters.
Several current SRA members and winning candidates attributed the increase in candidate turnout to more effective advertising from the McMaster Student Union elections department this year, made up of chief returning officer Uwais Patel and deputy returning officer Emily Yang.
“This year, the CRO and DRO did a really good job in doing outreach. It was a lot of promotion, and it was faculty-specific promotion as well,” said Tasneem Warwani, current SRA arts and science representative.
“I think what they did really well was reach out to SRA members to ensure that they were reaching out to their constituents,” said Devin Roshan, current SRA health sciences representative.
One new initiative the elections team took on this year was sending faculty-specific emails directly to students to remind them of nomination deadlines and how many seats were available.
“On the MSU pages, social media-wise, I saw more promotion about it,” said third-year social sciences student Allie Kampan, who won an SRA seat. “More people were aware of it this year.”
Some faculties also tried to host more faculty-specific events encouraging students to run. For example, the social science caucus ran an event where they handed out nomination forms.
“I think the SRA reps made it more approachable this year,” Kampman said. “There’s a stigma around a lot of MSU things, specifically SRA, which is that it’s unapproachable.”
Roshan pointed out that increased turnout also comes from regular efforts through the year to educate students on issues and what the SRA is doing.
The health sciences election this year featured eight candidates for two positions, building off seven candidates last year after just two in 2017.
Students entering post-secondary education may also be becoming more interested in politics.
“Looking at the first years specifically, in my interactions I’ve had with them, they’re very passionate about getting involved,” Warwani said.
First year council elections this year featured a record high of 54 candidates running for sixteen positions.
Not all faculties saw a rise in candidate turnout. Humanities had only three nominees, meaning all three available seats were acclaimed. There were just two nursing nominees for one seat and four kinesiology nominees for two seats. SRA engineering also had just eight candidates for six available seats.
All of these faculties have struggled to put forth nominees in recent years, with seats often being acclaimed.
According to incoming SRA engineering representative Hawk Yang, one possible reason for the typically low candidate turnout is that the engineering faculty has a prominent engineering society, which often overshadows SRA engineering initiatives.
Nonetheless, as evidenced by the SRA statistics, the MSU is still seeing refreshingly high interest in student government this year.
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After a McMaster University Senate meeting on Jan. 8th, Life Sciences and Arts & Science students will have more options to look forward to.
The Senate approved the establishment of an Honours Life Science Program Co-op and the creation of a Combined Honours Arts & Sciences and Music Program. In December, the plans were approved by the University Planning Committee, but ratified by the Senate Jan. 8.
Each of these programs will be included in the 2014-2015 Undergraduate Calendar.
In its report to the Senate, the Undergraduate Council said that Life Science Students are interested.
“Interest from Life Science students in a cooperative education option has been extremely high. Labour market research indicated that the life sciences sector continues to grow,” the report stated.
The Life Sciences Co-op Program will accept between 20 and 25 students in its first year, but expand to hold up to 35 students by 2016.
Students will be able to enter the program after Level II Honours Life Sciences with a minimum cumulative average of 6.0. But because of the small size of the program, acceptance will be very competitive, and the average CA of admitted students will likely be much higher.
The co-op program will be a five-year program, including two eight-month work terms.
The new combined honours program will be jointly developed with the School of the Arts and the Faculty of Arts and Science.
Students will apply to combine during their first year, and must pass a music audition and complete Arts & Science I with at least a 6.0 cumulative average, including an average of at least 7.0 in Music 1CC3 and Music 1EO6.
For David Campbell, once wasn’t enough. After running for the second year in a row, Campbell was named the new president-elect of the MSU on Jan. 31.
Campbell, who graduated from Arts & Science last year, is the current VP (Administration) of the Students Union. He ran for president in the 2012 election, ultimately placing second to Siobhan Stewart by a margin of 47 votes.
While some of the other six candidates in this year’s election ran on platforms of broader, more ambitious reform, Campbell focused on smaller details, such as adding more outlets and seating in MUSC and extending library hours.
“There are a lot of simple things we can do, for which the money is readily available,” he said.
“I think my platform shows that I have a much greater understanding of what can be done, what should be done, and what’s feasible,” he told the Silhouette during the election.
And it’s clear that voters identified with his vision. Campbell won the election in the first round of voting, earning first choice on 53 per cent of the nearly 6000 votes cast.
While his landslide victory may have come as a surprise to some given the field of seven candidates, a first-round win is not unheard of. Over the past 40 years, there have been seven first-ballot victories, of which Campbell’s win marked the second-narrowest winning margin.
The most recent first-ballot victory was in a two-person race in 1996.
Although his term as president doesn’t start until May 1, Campbell is already planning ahead.
“Siobhan [Stewart] and I will be sitting down at dinner soon and talking about respective goals,” he said when asked about his transition with the current MSU president.
Campbell explained his intention to start working on some of his platform points even before his term begins.
“I’ve added library hours and MAPS fees as my first to-dos,” he said. “Those are two things I hope to see change before I take office. Besides that, other things are more targets to have in place before next fall.”
He also hopes to incorporate the negotiation of a 12-month bus pass into his agenda for the year. Third-place candidate James Dowdall had proposed the idea during the campaign.
“I’m excited to take the job because I’ve started to develop a historical vision of the MSU,” Campbell explained. “That’s helped me have a more refined vision of what I’d like to see next year.”
Campbell is one of nine VPs in the last 13 years to run in MSU presidential elections and win the top office. Vishal Tiwari, a former VP (Education), won in 2009, after eight consecutive years of VPs becoming president from 2001 to 2007.
Devra Charney
The Silhouette
From Jan. 26-27, delegates from McMaster University’s Arts & Science and Integrated Science programs participated in the fourth annual Combining Two Cultures Conference, or C2C.
Established by Mac ArtSci students in 2010, C2C brings together interdisciplinary students from universities around Canada to discuss and develop interdisciplinary education through collaboration. While it originally focused primarily on interdisciplinary post-secondary education, it has grown to encompass the value of interdisciplinary studies in all aspects of problem solving in today’s world.
Leanna Katz, a recent ArtSci graduate, was part of the original steering committee that established the C2C conference. She recollected the initial enthusiasm for starting the conference and her astonishment that an interdisciplinary student-centred conference didn’t already exist.
“I loved so many aspects of the conference: the food was cooked from scratch by volunteers using ingredients from local farms, the working groups were developed and run by students from interdisciplinary programs across the country… All this gave the first C2C conference a distinctly McMaster ArtSci feel.”
Although Katz was part of the team who initiated C2C at Mac, she was also glad to see the conference through to its new hosts at the University of Waterloo.
“In the three years I was involved in planning C2C I was happy to see the conference move to another host university (the University of Waterloo, hosted by the Knowledge Integration Program) so that other interdisciplinary programs could take ownership of the conference for a period of time and give C2C their own flavour.”
This year, participants came from as far as McGill and University of British Columbia, as well as McMaster, Guelph and Windsor.
ArtSci and iSci students both engage in inquiry and problem-based learning that emphasizes cross-disciplinary exploration and coursework. Students at the conference spent their time thinking critically about why they chose to extend their focus across more than one area of study as well as the importance of interdisciplinary thinking in society.
Keynote speaker Payam Shalchian and panelists Tom Galloway, Vanessa Humphries, Jessica McEachren and Kathleen Beattie talked about their career paths in both arts and science disciplines, emphasizing that society has a demand for interdisciplinary perspectives. These individuals blurred the lines between seemingly distinct areas and made incredible innovations by combining their passions.
Working in the context of an overall theme of “boundaries,” discussion and problem-based learning facilitated insight into world issues, language, society and education. Discussion groups combined academics with inquiry in order to provide a constructive context for sharing and exploring diverse ideas. Skill sessions, new this year courtesy of Waterloo, provided an opportunity for hands-on learning.
Stephen Clare, a second-year Arts & Science student, felt that the conference presented a valuable opportunity to engage with highly ambitious students from across Canada.
“I attended the Creative Thinking skill session and we learnt practical ways of breaking through ‘mental boundaries”’ you may encounter working in teams or groups. It was very useful and a good way to break up the day.”
A panel for high school students was also added to the conference this year in order to investigate overcoming the difficulties of spanning across the disciplines while exploring the distinct opportunities it can bring to post-secondary education.
The C2C Conference will continue to run next year, being held at the University of Guelph. C2C 2013 provided a chance for students to engage creatively and discuss interdisciplinary studies in-depth in order to understand the benefits of breaking boundaries in both education and in the world.
Katija Bonin
The Silhouette
“Art refracts science, not reflects it,” according to McMaster Health Science professsor emeritus Patangi Ranganchari.
Ranganchari spoke at the opening of the new exhibit at the McMaster Museum of Art. The show, entitled ‘Perceptions of Promise: Biotechnology, Society and Art’ is a collaborative artistic project exploring the complex social, legal and ethical issues associated with breakthrough developments in life sciences technology, with a particular focus on stem cell research.
Curator Lianne McTavish said that the exhibit “makes a lot of sense at Mac.” McMaster has been considered a “world leader in stem cell research,” and with last week’s generous donation of $24 million from the Boris family to go toward this budding research field, the exhibit content undoubtedly intersects with the work going on at the University.
The science-inspired art exhibit opened on Feb. 9 and will be on display until March 31.
The launch of the exhibit was accompanied by a panel discussion with professors Roger Jacobs and Rangachari, as well as artists Derek Besant and Daniela Schlüter. Sean Caufield, an artist and professor of Art at the University of Alberta, moderated the panel discussion.
Caufield started the panel discussion with an emphasis on the impact of art and social media on the illustration of scientific ideas to the general public. He noted that the title of the show was influenced by the fact that “there is much promise in stem cell research, but also pressure from the public to complete it quickly.” Jacobs expanded on this point;“Science has gone from manipulating our environment to manipulating the temple of the body.”
Stem cell research is rapidly advancing, from just fourteen years ago when stem cell lines were first isolated, to last month where a phase one trial was constructed by growth factor. Jacobs cautioned that “some of the doors [stem cell research] opens are frightening if we go through them too quickly without thinking,” making it imperative that researchers carefully evaluate the applications and consequences of their research.
On the panel, Besant commented on the similarity between scientists and artists, saying that “the failure of scientists is comparable to the failure of artist,” and “if you don’t fail, you don’t learn anything.”
Schlüter employed a metaphorical decription of her art, explaining it as looking through a microscope. “The further away from the image, the more abstract, but the closer you go, the more clear,” she said.
She also talked about her experience with attaining an image of her chromosomes. She had asked the scientist she was collaborating with what her chromosomes looked like, and she said the action of having to draw it out helped him to more deeply understand his research. Now, her chromosomes can be spotted in her mixed-medium art on display.
Originally a pharmacologist, Rangachari argued that there is a certain permanency to a work of art, contrasting with science where, “sooner or later someone will find you wrong.” The constant progression of scientific discovery allows for, “the brilliance of science for one generation to become the lame science experiments of the next,” he said.
Art gives scientists and society alike a different viewpoint into complex issues. Caufield reaffirmed that “art is a building box of visual language that can sometimes tackle big questions.”
There is a sense of anxiety and hope among scientists, which in turn is conveyed through art and finally received by the public. Stem cells are tangible evidence of the mystery that lies within us, and no one knows where this mystery will lead us.
