News
Selected Solo Exhibitions and Commissions
-
2023
- Germination/Gestation, Bio Art Studio Residency, The School of Visual Art, New York
-
2022
- The First 100 Hours featured in the exhibition, Personal Structures at the European Cultural Center during the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo, Venice Italy, April 2022-November 2022
-
2019
-
Chromosome 2, Genes Controlling Our Proteins, A public art commission for WVU Cancer Institute, Berkeley Medical Center, Martinsburg, West Virginia
-
Lectures
- 2021
- Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, Oregon
- University of Nevada School of Art, Reno, Nevada
- 2020
- Arizona State University, Herberger Institute for Design and the Art, Phoenix, Arizona
- 2019
- Hallie Ford Museum at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon.
- DXARTS, The University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Group Exhibitions
- 2023
- Tenuous ThreadsAtlantic Gallery,
New York, NY - Hand Me DownGallery 263, Cambridge, MA
- Tenuous Threads
Current Projects
-
2022-24
- Curated, Transitions and Transformations: The Constant Flux of Our Personal Structures,
featured in the exhibition, Personal Structures at the European Cultural Center during the Venice
Biennale, Palazzo Bembo, Venice Italy.
Opens at Reed College January 2024.
- Curated, Transitions and Transformations: The Constant Flux of Our Personal Structures,
-
2019-2022
-
BECOMING YOU
A book showing the process of human egg fertilization, gestation and genetic testing. Written by Shizuko Takahashi M.D. Ph.D The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Ethics, Obstetrics and Gynecology with images by Geraldine Ondrizek, Professor of Art Reed College forthcoming Shougakukan Publishers, Japan 2022
BECOMING YOU
The Aim of the Book: Genetic Testing has infiltrated society in ways that has changed our view on genetics. Now we relate genetics more to disease and to forensic medicine. Although this has been very helpful, it has emphasized the deterministic value of genetics leading to a negative image to genetics. The first author is a working genetic counselor/reproductive endocrinologist, and have seen numerous prospectively pregnant patients and pregnant patients trying to make a decision based on false assumptions of genetics. After counseling and informing these patients, they are able to make a right decision for themselves. Worldwide, increasing numbers of people are deciding to undergo testing, many unaware of what they are being tested for or really misunderstanding the results of these tests.
With genetic testing becoming more and more extensive and gene editing on the horizon, the first author has felt strongly that children need to be more educated on genetics in order to view genetics in a more positive and beautiful way so that they could make a more autonomous choice when the time comes to do so themselves.
So, the aim of this book is to give an understanding of how the reader, as a child, came to be him or herself in relation to their own genetics. It is based on the latest scientific research being conducted throughout the world, including epigenetics, where scientists are trying to enhance our understanding of developmental biology with respect to genetics. Many of the previous children’s books have been either focused on DNA or genes, with comic-like illustrations. While these books are informative, they often emphasize the deterministic qualities in genetics, often concluding in genetics being able to find criminals and pin unfavorable conditions. In our book, we use images personally obtained from fertility clinics the first author (ST) works for as well as from university affiliated laboratories- Yale University, The University of Tokyo, Kings College London, and etc. We printed them on silk, painted and drawn into it using watercolor and colored pencils to give a translucent, and 4-dimensional look so children can appreciate the beauty of developmental biology and genetics. In the attached demo book, the images are scanned, but we would like to photograph them for our final book for better quality. Instead of the comical illustrations, we have a pop-up by printing on tracing paper for some of the pages and making a book-in-book for “your recipe” page. If the expense allows, we would like to use a pop-up 3-D double helix for our DNA image. There is a workbook at the end for them to think for themselves.
The Scope of the Book: The book begins from the reader at the point of conception and ends at their respective age. While it includes terminology such as sperm and egg, we have eliminated sex since it would distract the reader from the focus on a developing embryo and because the image used is from in vitro fertilization (IVF)and not a product of sex. We have incorporated embryo testing and prenatal testing into the book using a neutral voice (rather than being judgmental) so that children know that there are such tests. The children from around middle school and up as well as for adults (especially for those who have undergone fertility treatment) with basic knowledge of humans starting the fertilization of the egg and sperm.
Author(s) and Affiliation(s):
Shizuko Takahashi M.D. Ph.D The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine Department of Biomedical Ethics
Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyGeraldine Ondrizek
Professor of Art
Reed College
http://academic.reed.edu/art/faculty/ondrizekShizuko Takahashi M.D. Ph.D recieved BA from Reed College in Molecular Biology and Fine Arts in 1997. She did her thesis on Molecular Biology with Peter J. Russell and her Studio Art Thesis with Geraldine Ondrizek. She then attended medical school at Tokai University, School of Medicine (Isehara, Japan), and obtained her MD in 2002. After residency at the Japanese Red Cross Hospital and the University of Tokyo Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, she studied at the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine in both the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Law. She recieved her PhD in 2010 and her dissertation was on the decision-making process of fate of frozen embryos for infertile women in Japan, focusing on the cultrural implications on how embryos are percieved. In addition, after the great eastern earthquake in 2011 in Japan, she has been involved in disaster medical ethics. Her works have been published in BMC Medical Ethics, Lancet, and BMJ, and she has given lectures at the University of Tokyo.
Her past work: The decision-making process for the fate of frozen embryos by Japanese infertile women: a qualitative study Shizuko Takahashi,1,2 Misao Fujita,#2 Akihisa Fujimoto,#1 Toshihiro Fujiwara,#3 Tetsu Yano,#1 Osamu Tsutsumi,#3 Yuji Taketani,#1 and Akira Akabayashi#2
-