Harlem’s Mount Sinai Creates Art Of The Brain Show In Honor Of Brain Awareness Week

In honor of this year’s Brain Awareness Week 2021, Mount Sinai’s The Friedman Brain Institute joins the Dana Foundation.

The Dana Foundation in its global efforts to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research.

The Art of the Brain is a virtual exhibition that runs from March 16th to May 28th, 2021, of photographs, paintings, illustrations, and videos that celebrate the beauty of the brain as seen through the eyes of some of the world’s leading researchers.

With the aid of the latest technological advances, as symbolized by these images, scientists are better able to understand how the brain works and to accelerate the development of new treatments for many brain disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, autism, drug addiction, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease, among many others.

The Art of the Brain Exhibition is made possible with the support from Neuriva.

Diversity issues is a leading topic of concern within and among scientific institutions. During the last two decades, women and minority groups have made gains in their representation among medical and graduate students, postdocs, and assistant professors.

Despite these gains, however, we still have a small number of senior women faculty and far fewer faculty from under-represented minority groups at Mount Sinai and nationwide.

Recent studies continue to document implicit biases in the scientific workplace, and concerns remain around quality-of-life issues and obstacles to faculty retention and promotion. This affects everyone.

While we can’t solve societal issues, perhaps we can serve as a smaller focus group and demonstrate the kinds of tangible actions that lead to real improvements. In order to accomplish this, the Friedman Brain Institute has initiated a discussion to formulate positive steps by which we can make progress in these areas.

In support of this effort, all of the images, unless otherwise noted, are available for purchase. The proceeds from the sale serve as a donation to the Friedman Brain Institute and will be used to further the “Diversity in Neuroscience” initiative. All images are photo inkjet prints.

A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Veronica Szarejko is a fine art photographer who, in 2006, was hired by Mount Sinai’s Department of Neuroscience to direct the Digital Media Center.

After receiving presentations with amazing scientific images created by researchers at The Friedman Brain Institute, Veronica was inspired to curate an exhibition of “brain” images and, ultimately, brought this idea to fruition as the Art of the Brain.

Each year Veronica curates and produces the Art of the Brain exhibition and it has become an integral part of Brain Awareness Week,

As the Art of the Brain became more popular, Veronica was honored to be asked to curate the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute’s (TMII) exhibition, “Windows to Our Body”.

The success of the “Art of the Brain” exhibitions and “Windows to Our Body” has led to collaborative projects linking the artistic work at Mount Sinai with that of other hospitals and institutions.

Veronica still pursues her personal work. Her photographs have been collected and exhibited in the United States and abroad.

Her work has been displayed at the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Balatonfured, Hungry, the Society for Contemporary Photography in Kansas City, MO, and The Museum of Photography in Rafaela, Argentina.

Her solo credits include exhibitions at the University of Nevada in Reno, Nevada, Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, and the Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano in Lima, Peru, where her work is part of their permanent collection.

View the exhibition: http://neuroscience.mssm.edu/artofthebrain/exhibition/index

A minimum donation of $150.00 per image (unframed).
Canvas artwork is a minimum donation of $300.00.

For more information about the Art of the Brain or our Diversity in Neuroscience initiative, please contact Veronica Szarejko at veronica.szarejko@mssm.edu.

For information about The Friedman Brain Institute, please visit: www.mountsinai.org/FBI

Photo credit: 1) Veronica Szarejko. 2) Veronica Szarejko. The size of the artwork in the gallery is not representative of printing sizes. To find the printed size of an image, click the image information button.