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Jessica brown, painted by Victoria Gugenheim
Jessica Brown, painted by Victoria Gugenheim in a work that draws on the controversy surrounding gene patents. Photograph: Victoria Gugenheim
Jessica Brown, painted by Victoria Gugenheim in a work that draws on the controversy surrounding gene patents. Photograph: Victoria Gugenheim

Bodypainting meets science in the curious art of Victoria Gugenheim

This article is more than 10 years old
Victoria Gugenheim received her first set of face paints at the age of 9, and then just kept working downwards. Now a world-class bodyartist, she combines her art with a passion for science and nature. Click here for the accompanying gallery

The history of science has long been intertwined with the history of art. Scientists develop and exchange ideas, while artists are experts in communicating ideas to a wider audience, making use of techniques developed through science and engineering over the years. In fact art is so common in science that we often fail to recognise it as art at all – the false color imagery of NASA for example, or Feynman's famous diagrams of particle behaviour.

Victoria Gugenheim started experimenting with make up at the age of 6. At 9, she received her first set of face paints, and "just progressed downwards". Now she's one of the world's top body painters, finishing 3rd in the UV category at the World Bodypainting Festival last year.

We meet in the Wellcome Trust Cafe before leaving in protest at the sadistically priced wine and inhospitable closing time, moving to the nearby Euston Tap to sample their wonderful array of thick, head-fuzzing ciders. Wherever we are, Gugenheim is the most visually striking feature in the room, fiercely intelligent and fully committed to living her art.

"I've always been curious about everything," she tells me, and the curiosity that led her into art drove a passion for science, nature and exploration from an early age. In recent years, she has looked for ways to merge these interests. "I wanted to show that art and science can be integrated, and learn from each other. Science has helped art evolve, while art has helped communicate science to the masses."

Breaking in to the world of science as an artist was easier said than done, especially in an area as niche as body art. "It was hard to make contact. A lot of people think arts and science don't have anything to say to each other. Odd given the role of people like Feynman who were amazing physicists and artists as well."

Her breakthrough came thanks to Dr Caitlin Kight, a behavioural ecologist and science communicator involved with the Ancestor's Trail. Based on Richard Dawkins' book of the same name, the event combines walking, science and art, leading walkers through Somerset's Quantock Hills "along a time line from the present day back 3.8 billion years to the origins of life."

Kight commissioned Gugenheim to create a representation of a Caribbean Flamingo, meticulously painted onto a human hand. The result was a striking illustration of the impact of humans on evolution that caught the eye of another scientist, Lawrence Krauss.

Snake hand
The curves and textures of the body can feed into the artwork, in this case a hand is transformed into the head of a snake. Photograph: Victoria Gugenheim

Body painting was one of the first forms of art known to man. "We wanted to adorn ourselves, whether to access spirits or to make us seem bigger and bolder than we really are."

As a canvas, the body is very different to a sheet of paper, and far more personal. There are challenges – the body has curves, form and shape that must be negotiated – but also surprising opportunities. "The material is very different, so instead of having one surface you can have twenty, thirty or forty different textures. You can use the textures of the skin. A good body artist understands how the body speaks to you, which parts the art will look best on."

Lawrence Krauss, in Borg form
Lawrence Krauss, reimagined as a Borg. Photograph: Victoria Gugenheim

It's fair to say that Lawrence Krauss, physicist and author of The Physics of Star Trek is not a stereotypical model, but intrigued by Gugenheim's work he collaborated on a project that transformed him into a Borg. Assimilation was a long and intimate process. "You get to access a part of the person you normally wouldn't." The pair bonded over their shared love of the Rolling Stones.

Her latest work is a collaboration with a friend of mine, Jessica Brown, a photographer and model. The two had a shared interest in science, and in particular the ongoing saga over the BRCA1 gene, mutations in which increase the risk of breast cancer. Gene testing empowered Angelina Jolie to make her recent high-profile decision to undergo a double-mastectomy; but such testing is expensive, and the test has been patented by Myriad Genetics who maintain a monopoly in the United States – the subject of an ongoing battle in the US Supreme Court.

Gugenheim is a strong supporter of the idea that information should be as freely available as possible. "I'd like genetics to be open source. I don't think we should be patenting genes. The idea of being born and being in copyright infringement is very sinister."

Would she like to know the secrets of her own genes? I had my genome sequenced a couple of years ago and found it a rather disconcerting experience to be presented with a "wall of death" and glum warnings about my 25% risk of Alzheimer's, but Gugenheim is more enthusiastic, and overrides my objections: "I would implore people to get their genome sequenced if they can." Knowledge, after all, is power.

Painting Jessica gave Gugenheim the perfect excuse to do something "full of scientific material". A small forest of scientific literature provided inspiration in the form of visualisations of genes, genomes, cells and DNA. "The more information, the more sources you've got to draw from, the better the end result." Microdot arrays decorate Jessica's arm, a familiar double-helix spirals across her torso, and an X-chromosome decorates her thigh. A striped pattern along one arm is a direct representation of a sequenced genome, while depictions of the BRCA1 gene trace their way across her breast, a visceral reminder of the rarely seen connection between diagrams in a scientific paper and a woman's body.

Jessica Brown, painted as a court battle over the BRCA1 gene rages in the US. Photograph: Victoria Gugenheim

"This was the first type of art we had," and yet it seems appropriate for communicating some of our most sophisticated knowledge. Abstract concepts can be rendered immediate and visceral, the results of science connected directly to the people they impact. It's a beautiful relationship that Victoria Gugenheim hopes to continue. "We're all curious about the world, and we should learn from each other; we should explore this relationship."

More of Victoria's work can be found on her website at victoriagugenheim.com, and you can meet her on this year's Ancestor's Trail, or follow her on Twitter @quirkathon

Click here for the accompanying gallery

@mjrobbins | @quirkathon

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