Susan Emmerson

Heteroclite II
ink and gouache on paper

I make art to attempt to explain science. Translating biology into layman’s language for others has always been a part of my life and has become the purpose of my art.

Most of my work consists of drawings, paintings and cut paper. My abstract forms share many qualities with live organisms: flowing, expanding, growing, repeating and proliferating. The work I am submitting for this exhibit traces my journey through a seemingly uncontrollable and undiagnosable disease involving abnormal cells that seemed to be destroying my body.

My art incorporates all the things I enjoy: painting, sculpting paper, and the beauty of biology. I want people to see that science is not isolated and inaccessible, but as close as their own bodies. Part of the impetus behind my work is to show that the interconnectedness of biologic systems reflect the interconnectedness and relationships between people, groups, and nations.