Susan Kae Grant - Radioactive Substances

Introduction

Created in 1994-1995 for the exhibition "Science and the artist's book" held at the Smithsonian Institution and the Washington Project for the Arts in 1995, Susan Kae Grant's Radio-active Substances is like no other artists' book I've ever seen before. Housed at the University of Pennsylvania's [1] Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, the book appears to be something you would find in a chemistry laboratory as opposed to a library. Encased in a small lead box are 5 glass tubes and a 10 x 15 cm spiral note book consisting of 28 pages and various illustrations that all honor the legacy of Marie Sklodowska Curie [2]. Renowned as the first scientist to win the Nobel Prize twice, in 1903 and 1911, Marie Curie accomplished more than what most women even dream of at the time. Described as Grant's "evocative interpretation of Curie's 1903 dissertation presented at the Sorbonne in Paris" [3], Radio-active Substances portrays Curie's biggest life challenge: the struggle to balance her duties as a wife and mother with her unwavering pursuit of scientific knowledge in an era that disproved of the latter. In addition, the book illustrates the physical and emotional burden that accompanied Curie's radioactive endeavors.