Paper at the Nexus of Being and Place: A Conversation on How Art and Science Interpret Human Origins in Kenya

摘要

In 2016 I received a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship for my project,“The Nexus of Being and Place: Interpreting Human Origins.”Two scientists from the Human Origins Program at the Natural History Museum in Washington,DC advised me: Dr.Richard(Rick)Potts and Dr.Kay Behrensmeyer,each with expertise in paleoanthropology,paleoecology,paleobiology,and geology.In October 2016,I began drawingfossil casts at the museum using colored pencil on various papers I made from hemp,flax,linen,or abaca.In the summer of 2017,I took my handmade paper to Nairobi,and drew from original fossils of early humans and fauna in the collection of the Nairobi National Museum.Camping with scientists at Olorgesailie,I drew their excavation sites.In the spring of 2018,at Carriage House Paper in Brooklyn,New York,I made embossed pulp paintings based on the drawings,and continued this work in my own studio through 2018.This conversation with project advisor Rick Potts took place in Washington,DC at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History on April 17,2018.