Lee Cannarozzo

While in residence at the Coalesce Center for Biological Art, Cannarozzo
 will be working on a project titled “Cugini” that utilizes DNA sequencing visualization taken from fig trees found throughout the boroughs of NYC.  The majority of fig trees found in NYC were brought as clippings by Italian (im)migrants who made the transAtlantic journey to the U.S. at the turn of the century.  Over time, many of the NYC figs have been given colloquial cultivar names such as “Brooklyn White.”  Part of the goal for this project is to compare the DNA sequences of the fig trees found in NYC to fig trees in Italy, in order to determine the true cultivar names of the NYC fig trees.  The output of this investigation will be a land-based public art installation and accompanying exhibition that utilizes the DNA sequences of the New York City fig trees, as well as actual fig trees grown from NYC fig clippings.

Lee Cannarozzo (b. 1989, Las Vegas, NV) is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist with an M.F.A in Studio Art from SUNY University at Buffalo and a B.A. in Art History from The University of Nevada Las Vegas.  

Through a protean practice that utilizes constantly evolving methodologies and media relevant to the subject of each artistic project, his work investigates the contemporary resonance of various social, legal, and ecological histories.