"Killer Bird Flu" SOLD at exhibition (signed limited edition prints available) Artwork

Our genomes are made up of DNA, the building blocks of all life and the blueprint for who we are physically and potentially even creatively. DNA is made up of four letters (called bases), these are: A, T, G and C. If we in our entirety were a painting, our DNA would represent four original colours of paint that would fuse together to produce the palate of exciting and vibrant colours in the painting, in us. In parallel to DNA, pixels are the building blocks of digital imagery. In the process used here, each “base” of the sequenced genome is represented by one individual coloured pixel. As there are four bases, each is represented by one of four colours, in this case four primary colours. The "Killer Bird Flu [H5N1]" piece. In the latter half of the 1990's, Sensationalist media dubbed H5N1 as the "Killer Bird Flu". While it indeed was fatal to millions of domestic and wild birds that were culled to prevent its spread, it didn't live up to the apocalyptic consequences that several scare-mongering media moguls had "predicted". Placing the genome within a safe and innocent object, in this case a rubber duck, I felt was apt, the title too reflects the sensationalist element and the understated fact, something I feel relevant from a stance of an artist and a Virologist. The piece comprises the full genome sequence of Avian flu virus (officially: Influenza A virus - H5N1/ HK 156/97). The H5N1 virus genome consists of 13537 bases (letters), in this piece, these are contained within the familiar shape of a rubber duck which is exactly 13537 pixels in size. The rubber duck is an iconic image symbolic of innocence and safety (i.e childhood bath times). In stark contrast to this ducks are one of the principle carriers of the H5N1 virus, an transmit avian flu strains globally each year. If the observer knows which of the 4 colours represents which base (A, T, G or C) they can literally decode the sequenced influenza genome from the image in front of them, moving from left to right, top to bottom. In this piece A is red, T is green, G is blue and C is yellow. The first line of sequence in this piece would therefore read AGCAAAAGCAGGTCA. The entire H5N1 sequence can be "decoded" in this way, directly from the picture itself. This process is in essence about using digital art to represent our genetic blueprints, and encouraging the direct interaction between the observer and their surrounding environments, such as viruses that have been presented through the media in this piece. ************************************************* [Scientific note, Influenza A virus has a Segemented ssRNA genome, for this piece each of the eight the reverse transcribed RNA segments from A/HK/156/97 H5N1 (Subbarao et al., (1998): PB2, PB1, PA, HA, NP, NA, M1/M2 and NS1/NS2, were represented consecutively to give a single total genome size of 13537.] *************************************************

Mixed Media:New Media on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:1

Size:11.8 W x 11.8 H x 0.4 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.