2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

To what extent does Patricia Piccinini challenge our perspective on the ethics of bioengineering?

these ideas and information will become relevant in analysing and evaluating her works and their links to biotechnologies/bioethics.

Analysis of The Young Family (2002)

Fig. 2 The Young Family Sculpture 2002 Silicone, polyurethane, leather, plywood, human hair 80 x 150 x 110cm

The Young Family released in 2002 by Patricia Piccinini is one of her foremost three- dimensional works, garnering mass recognition and likely being the piece that sparked her cataclysmic rise in the global art scene (Douglas, 2017). At the base of the majority of Piccinini’s works is this notion of genetically modified organisms, whilst others may stray from these ideas or introduce additional themes, The Young Family (2002) is one her foundational works. This piece not only explores concepts of bioengineering but also the relationships within these modified organisms; more specifically maternal love. Having experienced this piece at GOMA, this life-size sculpture of what appears to be a woman with animalistic, pig-like features (Piccinini, 2002), laying on her side whilst breastfeeding her children, skilfully uses shock-factor to captivate its audience. On her website, Piccinini addresses the phenomenon that sprouted the creation of this work, as the creation of life purely for organ transplant (Piccinini, 2002). Piccinini declared that the pig-like characteristics within this work were influenced by the introduction of

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