Artist Esther Solondz is going to be placing her “rust portraits” of Charles Darwin and other evolutionary scientists on the concrete bench risers of Boston University’s Metcalf Plaza. The images, created from iron filings, will emerge and change, metaphorically mirroring the concept of evolution.
The portraits that emerge are the images of people who have contributed to the evolving scientific understanding of evolution. The work suggests that Darwin’s seminal work, The Origin of the Species (1859), far from being the “last word” on evolutionary biology, was, in fact, the beginning of a field of study that has itself evolved over time.
Metcalf Plaza is in front of the Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering, 590 Commonwealth Avenue. The installation will be in the Plaza from November 2006 through April 2007. Supporting the effort are the Boston University Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Biology.
