‘ Why Aren ’ t We All Bacteria? ’ Siddhartha Mukherjee Explores the Power of Cells

It’s hard to miss what appears to be dry cleaning hanging on the wall of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s apartment in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. The apartment is a sunny, stylish, open space, filled with modern furniture, decorated with sculpture and paintings—and then, in perhaps the most conspicuous spot on the living room, is a brown felt suit with very long pants, draped over a plain wooden hanger. It looks entirely out of place—but it’s not. The suit is the handiwork of German artist Joseph Bueys, who created the improbable bit of fabric art as a tribute to the nomadic Tatars who, as he would tell the tale, saved his life when he was a Luftwaffe pilot during World War II and his Stuka dive bomber crashed in Crimea, in 1943. The Tatars, ignoring Bueys’ status as one more in a horde of soldiers invading their homeland, wrapped him in felt and animal fat to keep him warm and alive until he recovered from his injuries. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “He was stranded and he was rescued by the locals,” says Mukherjee, “and a lot of his work subsequently had to do with coverings and with felt.” The tale behind the suit is a singularly human—and humane—one, a bit of individual caregiving in the global slaughter that was World War II. As a work of art, it is very much an apt piece to be displayed in the home of a man like Mukherjee, 52—the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 2010&rsqu...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Magazine Science Source Type: news