Ó³»­´«Ã½

Naoe Suzuki

and the end of all our exploring / will be to arrive where we started

Beginning June 18, 2026

On display at the Second Floor Connector Gallery and Stanley Building Lobby 

Naoe Suzuki, Ó³»­´«Ã½â€™s fifth artist-in-residence, incorporates periods of deep observation, data gathering, research and experimentation in her artistic process. During her residency, Naoe became curious about how medical science began in civilization, and how it evolved to the present moment. Pulling different knowledge and ideas from the past and the present, she explores topics such as progress, knowledge, belief, discovery, and the cycle of exploration. The results of her exploration are in the Ó³»­´«Ã½â€™s permanent collection, and you can see the following work around campus. 

Inscription drawings (translocation of double-stranded passage): These laser cut drawings were made with hieratic script that described magic spells for treating illnesses in The Edwin Smith Papyrus, the earliest known surgical treatise on trauma from around 1,600 BCE in ancient Egypt. It showed a high level of medical knowledge, but magic spells were also included as a legitimate treatment. We regard science as rational, but in ancient times, science was not so separated from supernatural power—unknowable and beyond human understanding. 

Field Notes: Naoe began tracing writings on the whiteboards shortly after arriving at the Ó³»­´«Ã½. She regarded this activity as data gathering.. These traced images became a collection of her observations from walking around the Ó³»­´«Ã½. Each line in this work represents a dialogue between the Ó³»­´«Ã½â€™s scientists’ hands (and their thinking) and her own hand. 

Sequencing stories weave stories from three different times in medical and scientific history—Ancient (The Edwin Smith Papyrus) Contemporary Past (The Human Genome Project, 1990–2003,) and the Present ( writings from the whiteboards , 2016.) Naoe came to understand that  science is built on numerous cycles of exploration. Each discovery is not the end of a journey but presents a new set of questions, and leads  to the forging of new pathways. 

These works were generously donated by the artist in 2026.