Science Metropolis - Boston

There are nearly 9,000 known species of ants in this world, each with its own look and DNA. In order to communicate and learn more about them, scientists need some way to organize them. Just like alphabetical order can organize words, scientists organize organisms by their taxa.

Joe Morelli, a 2005 graduate of The Art Institute of Boston, examines this ordering system in a wood and acrylic sculpture series he calls “Taxa.” In his work, species of birds and insects are simplified, so we can see how scientists groups things according to observed similarities and differences. He hopes viewers walk away thinking about how the world isn’t naturally classified - it’s really an act of human intelligence.

“My work manifests the human compulsion to classify, simplify, understand and record natural phenomena,” says Morelli, who although an artist, is inspired by the words of science writers like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould. “Evolution has endowed us with the ability to infer patterns from randomness, and meaning from where none may exist. We impose order on the natural world.”

Morelli believes humans are “pattern-seeking animals,” and with his work, like bhombus, (shown up top), the taxa for bumblebees, or passerines, (left), showing songbirds, he makes the patterns obvious.

“The greatest flaw science exhibits, also remains its greatest strength: The openness to revision and falsification.” says Morelli. “To highlight the fallacies or imperfections in a scientific theory, is to engage in the very process that drives science itself.”