The idea for the exhibit had been brewing for a while, he says, but in the summer of 2020, a call from the Cambridge Arts Council for projects to address racial and social injustice compelled him to act. He connected with a local poet, with whom he now oversees 21 participants: scientists (including Daniel Chonde ’07, Huili Chen, SM ’18, and Shannon Johnson, SM ’19), poets, and a MassArt student and photographer.
For Sariñana, who’s always seen science, communication, and the arts as intertwined, “The Poetry of Science” is a chance to demonstrate that to the public and perhaps inspire the next generation. “As a little kid, I didn’t have many models to look up to who were scientists of color,” he says. “There’s exceptional opportunity for science and art to work together to translate complex and seemingly out-of-reach ideas to the public, and this project is [one] way to do it.”