Creatives in Practice: Lucy Kim
BU Associate Professor of Art in Painting and recently announced Wagner Fellow, Lucy Kim, had a solo exhibition of melanin prints in the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington in Seattle
Lucy Kim working on melanin prints. Photo by Hilary Schaffner
CREATIVES IN PRACTICE: LUCY KIM
Lucy Kim, a Boston University Associate Professor of Art in Painting and recently announced Wagner Fellow, had a solo exhibition of her melanin prints in the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.
One thing that gravitates the next generation of artists to Boston University College of Fine Arts? Knowing that their professors, advisors, and mentors are also working artists, gaining real-world experience and bringing that back into the classroom through their curriculum, lessons, and talks. In CFA’s Creatives in Practice series, your favorite CFA faculty and staff members share the work they’re doing off campus, locally, nationally, and globally.
Since 2019, Boston University associate professor of art in painting Lucy Kim has been using genetically modified bacteria to produce melanin, the bio-pigment behind human skin, hair, and eye color, in her work. A recipient of the 2022 Creative Capital Award, Kim began this project while an artist-in-residence at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and then brought it to Boston University Biology labs.
Last year, Kim had a solo exhibition of her melanin prints titled Mutant Optics at the Henry Art Gallery – University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The show was a culmination of Kim’s work, which spans painting, sculpture, and biological media to deconstruct the social and psychological aspects of vision, including how we extract meaning from what we see.
Kim, who was named a 2026 Wagner Arts Fellow, has also been making regular trips to the University of Florida’s research farm to photograph vanilla plants undergoing genetic research. “It felt meaningful to have melanin, the main pigment behind human skin, hair, and eye color, be the pigment that gives the vanilla its appearance on the paper,” says Kim. For her exhibition at the Henry, Kim created an installation of new melanin works made from images of vanilla plants, extending her broader investigations into the relationship between bioengineering, visual appearance, and the social and cultural construction of race and perception.
In CFA’s Creatives in Practice, Kim shares insights into the history of melanin and vanilla, what her years of work have meant for her, and how she ties what she’s learned as a working artist to her role as an educator for the next generation of painters and visual artists.
Lucy Kim: Mutant Optics [Installation view, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle. 2024]. Photo: Jueqian Fang.
Q&A WITH LUCY KIM
CFA: Tell us more about the history of vanilla plants and melanin. What interests you about this?
Kim: Vanilla is originally from Mexico, but through European colonization, it ended up in former colonies like Madagascar, where most of the world’s vanilla is still produced today. I am interested in the specifics of this history, and how vision and appearance were used to justify this history. But I am also interested in the future, and how various technologies, especially biotechnology, will shape vision and appearance.
How does your real-world experience in the field connect to your role as a faculty member at CFA?
Much of my teaching is drawn from my own education, but more of it is drawn from my experience as an artist in the world. It is extremely difficult to be an artist while meeting life’s demands. So much happens in the journey of trying to make it work and then building it up. As a teacher, I share the knowledge gained through that experience. Some of it is philosophical, some pragmatic, but most are realizations about what art is/could be that I learned through my own work and other artists’ works.
Top image: Lucy Kim: Mutant Optics [Installation view, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle. 2024]. Photo: Jueqian Fang. Bottom row (left): White Vanilla (Gene Edited Albino Vanilla Plantlet – 22 Part Composition) Melanin produced by genetically modified E. coli cells on paper, powder-coated aluminum brackets. Installation view, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, 20.5 ft x 13 ft, 2024. Right: Hands Pollinating Vanilla Flowers (Edmond Albius Method) Melanin produced by genetically modified E. coli cells on paper, powder-coated aluminum brackets. Installation view, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, 163 in. x 126 in, 2024
What inspires you about this role? How do you think it makes you a better artist and educator?
Though I often fantasize about going into hiding and making work in some secret, lush lair, I know that being isolated from people and ideas is not good for me or my work. I’m someone who needs a lot of sensory, intellectual, and social stimuli, even if I complain about being overstimulated sometimes. The vibrant culture of cities can provide that, and educational centers, like universities, can provide that. I love learning from my incredible colleagues here, and also from my students. What is the next generation up to? What do they care about? Every classroom is a generational exchange of ideas.
I’m someone who needs a lot of sensory, intellectual, and social stimuli, even if I complain about being overstimulated sometimes. The vibrant culture of cities can provide that, and educational centers, like universities, can provide that. I love learning from my incredible colleagues here, and also from my students. What is the next generation up to? What do they care about? Every classroom is a generational exchange of ideas.
What advice would you give your students about building a sustainable career in the arts?
Be self-aware as an artist and stay connected with other artists. Other artists will be your lifeline.
Connect with Lucy!
Lucy Kim is a Korean-American interdisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture and microbiology. In her hybrid works, she embraces distortion as the pressure point to deconstruct how we see what we see: the relationship between our evolved vision-centricity, constructed socio-cultural systems, and personal desires.
Kim is a recipient of the 2022 Creative Capital Award for her project printing images with bacteria that has been genetically-modified to produce melanin, the bio-pigment behind human skin, hair, and eye color. She began this project while an artist-in-residence at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and continues to develop it at Boston University, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate painting courses and sminars and a graduate sculpture course.
About Mentioned Programs
The Painting program at Boston University promotes the medium of painting in its varied manifestations as a fundamental form of artistic expression. Instruction, practice, and awareness of historical and contemporary context are brought together to enable students to think critically and imaginatively, and to express their ideas with skill and conviction. The principal component of the Painting program is learning through doing. Critical dialogue and rigorous expectations about studio practice support students’ work towards a developing artistic vision.
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