Sunetra Gupta
Date
2013
Sitter
Sunetra Gupta (1965, Indian-British) , Epidemiologist
Creator
Garry Kennard (1948, British) , Artist
Object type
Material
Dimensions
height (print): 420mm
width (print): 300mm
width (print): 300mm
Subject
Description
Half-length portrait of Sunetra Gupta, seated at a table, her hands resting on its surface. She wears a dark top, a cardigan and a watch on her left wrist.
The table is inscribed with symbols resembling a mathematical equation and an unidentified, smiling life form. Possibly a nod to the ways in which her research uses mathematical models to generate hypotheses regarding the determination of pathogen structure and make-up.
Signed in bottom right corner ‘Garry Kennard ‘13’
Sunetra Gupta is a Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, specialising in the evolution of diversity in pathogens such as those responsible for bacterial meningitis, influenza and malaria. She is also a respected novelist and winner of the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award (2009). Her novels include: Memories of Rain (1992), The Glassblower’s Breath (1993) and Moonlight into Marzipan (1995).
Garry Kennard is a painter and writer interested in the overlapping realms of science and art. For this series of portraits, he requested that his subjects bring a personal object or reflection to the studio that might say something about how they thought about their science.
The table is inscribed with symbols resembling a mathematical equation and an unidentified, smiling life form. Possibly a nod to the ways in which her research uses mathematical models to generate hypotheses regarding the determination of pathogen structure and make-up.
Signed in bottom right corner ‘Garry Kennard ‘13’
Sunetra Gupta is a Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, specialising in the evolution of diversity in pathogens such as those responsible for bacterial meningitis, influenza and malaria. She is also a respected novelist and winner of the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award (2009). Her novels include: Memories of Rain (1992), The Glassblower’s Breath (1993) and Moonlight into Marzipan (1995).
Garry Kennard is a painter and writer interested in the overlapping realms of science and art. For this series of portraits, he requested that his subjects bring a personal object or reflection to the studio that might say something about how they thought about their science.
Object history
1 in a series of 5 portraits commissioned by the Royal Society for inclusion in ‘Scientists’ (2013); an exhibition curated by Uta Frith FRS.
Related fellows
Uta Frith (German) , Developmental psychologist
Associated place