In “Through bodies; realities intertwine and simultaneously split,” Caitlin Pulizotto, with the support of studio arts faculty member Delanie Jenkins, responds to the research of particle physicist Vittorio Paolone and his graduate students. Paolone’s primary area of research revolves around the neutrino particle, one of the most abundant particles in the universe. Paolone emphasizes their incredibly small size by comparing them to the human body: several trillion neutrinos can pass through one of your fingers within a single second. In fact, from the time you’ve started reading this paragraph to the end of this sentence, several quadrillion neutrinos have passed through your entire body without physically interacting with it. True to the nature of neutrinos, this body of work depicts a hand entirely made of individual dots. Even as they avoid interactions with one another, these dots are placed so closely that they fill the tiny spaces between the prints, creases, and lines of the hand. Although they are so abundant that their behavior informs the structure of our universe, Paolone describes a phenomenon in which these particles simultaneously exist in a separate plane of reality. They surround us—and even exist inside of us—yet, at the same time, are imperceptible.

Caitlin Pulizotto is a queer multidisciplinary artist in her third year of undergraduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh, where she is pursuing a BA in studio arts and a certificate in digital media. She views her work as documentation of her own self-exploration as she determines how much truth lies in the perception of self in juxtaposition to reality. In doing so, she examines the interplay between identity, place, and social constructs. Her creative process is guided by technical precision and her desire to draw viewers toward elements that typically go unnoticed.

Faculty Researcher: Vittorio Paolone

Artistic Advisor: Delanie Jenkins