NEWS!

Coming up in 2026

Opening May 13th at the Rochester Art Center

Forms of Care

Curated by Zoe Cinel. Assistant Curator: LaVanda Mireles.

In Frankenstein—the 2025 American Gothic science fiction film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro—the businessman William Frankenstein asks his brother, the scientist Victor Frankenstein: “Did you ever ask yourself: of all the parts that make that man, which one holds the soul?”

This question refers to "The Creature," a sapient being Victor assembled from the bodies of deceased soldiers and criminals to fulfil his monstrous desire to conquer death. This same inquiry arises when viewing the depictions of dismembered, intentionally anonymous bodies—or body parts—in renowned anatomical books and biomedical visualizations. Who was depicted, and how? What is the relationship between the artist and the portrayed body? How was that body acquired?

To address these and many more questions, the Rochester Art Center presents Form of Care, a group exhibition featuring contemporary figurative drawing, photography, prints, and portraits, medical illustrations, and historical reproductions of anatomical drawings. By examining past and present figurative methodologies, the exhibition fosters a dialogue on the evolving ethics of representing the human form. Ultimately, it centres new practices of depiction that are inclusive, community-based, and reciprocal.

Features artists and medical illustrators:

Christopher Sellek, Dan Thompson, Eric Anderson, Jess Kiel-Wornson, Jessalyn Finch, Leslie Barlow, Life Drawing for the End of the World, Lucia Garces, Marianne Petit, Marra Evans, May Ling Kopecky, Ni-ka Ford, Megan Vossler, Steve Premo.