A solo art show focused on specimen preservation and fragmented representations of bodies will open its doors in Lawrence just in time for the most spine-tingling season of the year.
“Preservation of Bodies” is the debut solo show of Emily Mulvaney, who held the title of Lance Williams Art and Science Artist Resident and Lecturer at KU for the 2024-25 school year.
While teaching courses in sculpture, drawing and art and ecology, she developed the body of work now on display at Off-Site Art Space, a gallery run by KU’s Department of Visual Art.
The show sits at the nexus of scientific research and artistic imagination, as Mulvaney conducted historical scientific research in Kansas and Missouri while also collaborating with KU’s Molecular Biosciences laboratory to inform the work.
Gallerygoers can expect to see sculptural pieces crafted with bioplastics and even works generated using a species of bacteria that can alter pigment-shifting agar through cell-to-cell communication.
As the exhibition aims to examine the history, ethics and methods used to preserve and understand nonhumans, Mulvaney confronts the degradation of species and “questions if true preservation exists, and whether fragments of a being can sufficiently represent its entirety,” according to the event description.
An opening reception for “Preservation of Bodies” will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26 at Off-Site Art Space, 924 Delaware St. The exhibition is on view from Sept. 26 through Oct. 25. The gallery is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
Mulvaney will deliver a closing artist talk as well. That’s set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25.
Following “Preservation of Bodies,” Off-Site Art Space will hold a group show with undergraduate and graduate student work focusing on themes of “mythmaking, dreamscapes, and hybrid forms, creatures, and objects,” according to an Instagram post.
That show will open from 6 to 8 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31, and run through Nov. 9.
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Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
