Wildlife artists and biologists often draw inspiration from the natural world, driven by an inextricable need to further our human connection to nature. Common to these two spheres is the inherent power to observe patterns, interpret their meaning, and transform the knowledge to better engage with the public. While historically many scientists were adept artists as well, over time the scientist was isolated into one box and the artist in another leading to gaps in understanding and appreciation of the work of each respective group. To break these barriers, we need cohesion, collaboration, and communication.
“Science-inspired art can take an issue, a discovery, a concept and transform that into an engaging experience that can be widely interpreted and resonate with the audience at a much deeper level than stats, charts and facts.”
Melissa Pappas
Marine scientist, Science Writer, Illustrator
University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science
“Art has been used as a tool for science communication for a while. However, the most common form of this is through illustration, conceptual drawings, and infographics. While this is one form of science-art collaboration, it does not take full advantage of the power of art.” said Melissa Pappas, a marine scientist, Science Writer and Illustrator at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. “Science-inspired art can take an issue, a discovery, a concept and transform that into an engaging experience that can be widely interpreted and resonate with the audience at a much deeper level than stats, charts and facts.”
Recently we shared the story of Future Pacific – an immersive art exhibit and film project which showcased the power of using art to create a deep emotional connection in ways that differ from traditional scientific audiences. By reaching a wider audience, art and science have the ability to increase engagement on the critical issues of our time by allowing more people to understand the intricate and often nuanced nature of environmental issues. Through such collaborative endeavors, the importance of scientific discovery and its implications for our planet and survival can reach broader.
“If we disregard art as a strategy to communicate science, we are already limiting the audience that will listen. It is usually not the people that already know and care about corals that need to see exhibits like Future Pacific, it is the people that are not even aware of what a coral is that need to see it, and Shapiro accomplished that with her art.” says Pappas.
Forward-looking
On a practical level, achieving the end goal of getting audiences to care about science or art requires facilitating more projects connecting artists and scientists. This could be achieved through scientific grants with necessary artistic outreach components such as scientist- or artist-in-residence programs[mfn]”SLADE SCIENTIST IN RESIDENCE 2021.” www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/news/2020/12/slade-scientist-in-residence-2021-professor-daren-caruana[/mfn]. Research centers promoting parallel evolution of concepts through art and science can also nurture complementary creative processes[mfn]”MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) Special Collection.” act.mit.edu/cavs[/mfn]. Translating scientific data into visual[mfn]”A network of science: 150 years of Nature papers.” www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03325-6[/mfn], audible[mfn]”The Molecular Shape of You (Ed Sheeran Parody).” youtu.be/f8FAJXPBdOg[/mfn], and other sensory interpretations can create perspectives and break accessibility barriers to scientific findings.
At Wild Media Journal, we strongly believe that art-science collaborations such as Future Pacific will galvanize more such alliances among artists, scientists, filmmakers, and society and are committed to sharing the stories of the people at the collaborative forefront.
