Serena Scapagnini’s work is deeply rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration. For the past decade, she has focused her artistic research on neurons, working closely with Professor Michael Higley, a neuroscientist at Yale School of Medicine, on a project titled SYNAPSES, dedicated to exploring the mind. Using fluorescent neuroimaging techniques to visualize neurons, Serena creates media works that define an internal landscape, following the flow of neurons like the tributaries of a river, connecting through synapses to form the shapes of our thoughts. Her body of work spans painting, drawing, video art, and installations.
In her exploration of the osmotic relationships between cells—and more broadly, between structure and space—Serena creates spatial works supported by delicate copper cables, forming complex systemic organizations. These compositions suggest a rhythm that runs through overlapping papers, echoing natural dynamics. The proportions, order, and quality of these works evoke the geometric structures underlying various forms in nature. Paper, Serena’s preferred medium, is transformed as dense layers of paint on one part of the picture gradually evolve into ethereal forms, allowing the dendritic branches to dissolve into the white surface of the paper. Transparencies and the rarefaction of neurons on the empty white spaces create an environment where images rest, and perception unfolds into silence, as if thoughts could extend into a moment of transcendence.
Earlier in the residency, Serena delivered a public talk at YQI titled “The Shape of Thoughts: Down the Flowing River of Tributary Neurons,” as part of our non-technical talk series, where she shared insights into her work and practice.
