Event 2- Exhibition: "Waste Matters: You Are My Future" by Kathy High

I recently attended Kathy High’s exhibit “Waste Matters: You are My Future” at the CNSI Art Sci Gallery at UCLA. It was an interesting experience that took me aback at first, but the exhibit is a fantastic example of medicine, science, and art coming together to explore a new perspective on a field of study, specifically about the ecology within the human body.

The exhibit focused on the gastrointestinal system and the bacteria that live and thrive in it, and how the two don’t always get along. The artist herself has Crohn’s disease and I felt the exhibit was a very creative way of exploring her disease and stripping the stigma away from a usually taboo subject—poop.

On entry to the exhibit, the central focal point of the room is a display of stool bank prototypes—namely, excrement encased in glass cylinders preserved by honey. My first reaction was confusion. But after watching the informative scientific video on the innovation and importance of fecal matter transplants, it became much clearer that these artistic prototypes could be an expansion on the new treatment of serious gastrointestinal illnesses like Crohn’s disease.

Stool Bank Prototype

However, what really drew my eyes were the large print photography pieces that were self-portraits of the artist re-enacting various pictures of David Bowie’s career. The artist’s intent was to exchange the art for David Bowie’s fecal matter for a fecal matter transplant to help treat her Crohn’s disease.

                                       Kathy High’s Self-Portraits

Overall, I admire the openness and message of this exhibit. Talking about waste and the medical procedure of fecal matter transplants could be considered disgusting conversation but I believe it is important that these topics be out in the open. Gastrointestinal diseases affect many people and discussing and artistically portraying these topics openly can take the stigma away. Kathy High created beautiful pieces of art while also promoting and exploring the science behind the bacteria coexisting in the human body.

Me at the Exhibit