Guhapriya (“Gupi”) Ranganathan

Gupi Ranganathan completed her two-year residency at the Broad in 2011. At the end of her stay, she exhibited “Unfolding,” a collection that used video, paintings, prints, and wire sculpture to explore the process of the genome unfolding and life unfolding, linking the theme seamlessly to the process of scientific collaboration at the Broad. The works in her exhibit revealed science in all its effortless beauty: the image of a long polymer folded into a fractal globule, lines seen in neural structures, space-filling lines based on the Hilbert curve.

Ranganathan wrote about how her experience at the Broad shaped her work: “Scientific research involves stepping into the unknown without fixed or definite answers. The abstract nature of the questions and the experimentation involved in research mirrors the process of creating art and becomes a metaphor for the experience of life. By mapping cell structures and patterns as they transform and evolve, I explore how changes at the microcosmic level lead us to visually and spiritually reflect on the macrocosm.”

Ranganathan holds an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art & Design and is an adjunct faculty member at Simmons College.

Learn more about Gupi and her work on her website.

June 2016