The Gandia Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) hosts the exhibition Scientific Artefacts. Women, Identity, Science and Objects. The exhibition, inspired by the murals of the Dones de Ciència project and developed from the perspective of the artistic and visual project Artefacto Portraits, offers a journey through the personal and professional worlds of eleven women scientists through compositions created from meaningful objects, both personal and professional.
Among its protagonists are UPV professor and conservator Pilar Roig; Sara García Alonso, molecular biologist and ESA reserve astronaut; and Anna Lluch, breast cancer researcher and Professor of Medicine.
Original objects full of stories
“We do not aim to represent history with complete accuracy, but rather to imagine it with rigor and care. We are interested in understanding and conveying the story, context, passions, and legacy of each of the eleven women featured in this project,” explain the exhibition’s curators and artists, Virginia Vinagre and Ella Ahonen.
To achieve this, they conducted in-depth research on the life of each represented woman and, whenever possible, worked with objects personally provided by the protagonists or by people close to them. In other cases, the objects were recreated or sourced from antique shops, flea markets, and collections belonging to relatives and friends.
Pilar Roig, for example, lent a restoration syringe, a box of antique weights from her father, and a book of poems by Francisco Brines dedicated by the author himself. Sara García Alonso contributed one of her official European Space Agency polos, some guitar picks, and a copy of her doctoral thesis. Anna Lluch, in turn, provided a painting dedicated to her, the medal of the Royal National Academy of Medicine, and her honorary doctorate ring awarded by the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló.
Pioneers and role models
The exhibition also pays tribute to other prominent figures: Margarita Salas, biochemist and a leading figure in molecular biology in Spain; Concepción Aleixandre, physician, gynecologist, and pioneering inventor; Jane Goodall, primatologist, conservationist, and explorer of animal behavior; Ada Lovelace, mathematician and pioneer of computing; Katherine Johnson, mathematician key to calculating space trajectories; Hypatia of Alexandria, astronomer, philosopher, and teacher; Jane Jacobs, urban thinker and activist; and Marie Curie, pioneer in the study of radioactivity.
Marie Curie is evoked through tubes containing radium salts, which she handled with fascination; Hypatia of Alexandria through an abacus recalling her astronomical and mathematical calculations; Jane Jacobs appears defending her city with banners, paint, and a megaphone; and Katherine Johnson performing complex orbital calculations with a Monroe calculator, surrounded by men in a NASA research center.
The exhibition was inaugurated on May 5 with the participation of the curators and the UPV Head of Cultural Action.
The exhibition Scientific Artefacts. Women, Identity, Science and Objects will be open to the public until May 29 in the Multipurpose Hall of the Gandia Campus.