Brooklyn-born Photographer Brings Art to Science
May 16th, 2008 by EthanThanks for visiting! Subscribe to the RSS feed, receive posts via email, or find other ways to subscribe in the 'Subscribe' box to the left. Thanks again and see ya soon.
Her photographs have graced the cover of the pre-eminent journal Science and the halls of MoMA. Her accolades and recognition stretch from a Guggenheim Fellowship to the prestigious Lennart Nilsson Award for medical, technical, and scientific photography. She has appeared in print and in person everywhere from the NYT, to the University of Toronto’s Department of Physics to the National Science Foundation to Apple.com.
She is Felice Frankel; a largely self-taught photographer and scientist, a product of Midwood High School and Brooklyn College, currently a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University and research scientist at MIT, and — in the interest of full disclosure — my aunt!
Ms. Frankel took an idea that was previously off-limits — namely altering a scientific image — and, using innate creativity, has turned the world of science communication and imaging on its head.
While openly admitting to modifying her images by removing such visual clutter as a petri dish from the background, or by enhancing the color of an image, Ms. Frankel has given new depth to previously mundane imagery. The effect of these modifications is immediately clear and, in most cases, inspiring.
Upon selecting her work as the recipient of the 2007 Lennart Nilsson Award, the board of the Lennart Nilsson Foundation remarked:
“Those viewing Ms. Frankel’s images are initially captivated by their form and colour. No sooner is their curiosity aroused than they want to know what the photograph depicts. She has thus fulfilled a scientific reporter’s paramount task: to awaken people’s interest and desire to learn.”
Ms. Frankel is a realist. Her works are not “art” per se, it is communication of scientific phenomena that just happens to be beautiful. Yes, images are manipulated, but annotation is important as with any scientific research. Again, it is the inspiration that is paramount.
“Visualizations allow scientists to shout from the rooftops how incredibly beautiful science is,” said Frankel. “It is a place where the biologist and the physicist can talk to each other, in the visual representation of their work.” Getting students and teachers to think about how to express ideas visually becomes an incredible learning tool, said Frankel. “My hope is that visually representing science is one way of getting you to look.”
Long-time collaborator, and professor of chemistry at Harvard University, Dr. George M. Whitesides, says this of Ms. Frankel’s contribution to science in a June 2007 article in the NYT:
“She has transformed the visual face of science. […] Her impact on scientific communication has been very large, in the way science talks to science and science talks to the world outside science.â€
Beyond that, he added: “She has a wonderful sense of design and color. It is hard to say she is not an artist.â€
Make up your own decision what you want to call her work, but the fact remains that her photographs are an inspiring look at the world around us from a new perspective.
In addition to the links in this post — which I highly recommend reading — I suggest that anyone even remotely interested in Ms. Frankel’s work seek out her two books of stunning photographs, On the Surface of Things and the more recent Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image. They make wonderful gifts, especially for the young scientist.
While the MoMA exhibit — Design and the Elastic Mind — wrapped up on May 12th, here are a couple of glimpses into Ms. Frankel’s creative mind: a video interview from the PBS program Wired Science and an interview (mp3) from the online design journal Massive Change.
The Wired Science vid:
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May 19th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Really nice Ethan. It’s fantastic to have the WIRED science video accessible to so many. Her work and message truly deserves to be ‘out there’.