Guests can now discover the wonders of their own personal armor at the Science Museum of Minnesota’s latest exhibit, “Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity.” It features multiple specimens and interactive experiences for visitors, including an in-depth investigation of the history of skin color and the social and political meanings ascribed to it.
Located on the fourth floor of the downtown St. Paul museum, “Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity” runs through June 1 and presents the different ways skin has evolved for humans and animals over time.
“This is actually one of my favorite science exhibits that we’ve had here,” said Dr. Catherine Early, curator and chair of the biology department at the museum. “I think it’s fantastic to dive into the diversity of the Animal Kingdom, but also contextualizing ourselves as humans.”
Originally on display at the California Academy of Sciences, “Skin” was open from June 2019 through January 2020.
“Uniquely personal yet universal, skin forms a living interface between organisms and their environment — and is our public face to the world,” the academy wrote on its website.
“Skin” focuses on the animal and human side of skin, and how it has evolved. One major focus of the exhibit is how humans have ascribed meaning and value to skin color, and how racist practices and ideals have tainted perceptions of different skin tones.
“I think we’re at a point in our country’s history, but it seems to be happening globally, where people in power are looking for ways to divide people instead of unite them,” Early said. “And there’s so much more that unites us as humans than divides it, as people who look slightly different from each other.”
Guests are immediately greeted by the recreation of a life-size black rhinoceros, a realistic replica of the animal meant to highlight one of the many ways skin can evolve for living beings.
“Its not a good idea to move taxidermy that large, especially not a rhino, because their horns are really in demand on the black market,” Early said. “So our team worked with, funnily named, Blue Rhino, which is a local sculpting group.”
The display highlights the continued risk rhinos face, as the animals are poached for their horns, including the conservation efforts of the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching unit that works to protect the rhino population in South Africa.
“Rhino horn is actually bone. It’s derived from skin, as are feathers, as is fur, and all the different ways that show up in the animal kingdom,” Early said.
Another part of the exhibit demonstrated how new skin is developed through a video display. According to the display, new skin cells are formed every four weeks, as illustrated by the constantly moving skin assembly line.
“This exhibit really hammered home in a way that I hadn’t fully appreciated how our skin, our human skin, is just an ecosystem from really tiny things,” Early said.
This ecosystem includes face mites, a microorganism that lives within hair follicles, as described by another display in the exhibit.
But the core of the exhibit is the human aspect, the human skin and how it has been looked at throughout history. The display features replicas of historical tools used to subjugate communities of color, including an interactive consensus that allows insight into how people would have been categorized over time.
However, there are also real items included.
The display also includes a braid of human hair that is on loan from the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum in San Francisco. Blurred behind greyed-out glass out of sensitivity, guests can choose to interact with the display in a way they feel comfortable.
“You can push that button and make the glass clear if you want to see it,” Early said. “It’s tied to racism against Chinese immigrants.”
The exhibit leads directly into the museum’s permanent display on the history of race in America, a choice that highlights the meaning society has ascribed to a scientific difference in compounds produced by the skin.
“It’s a message that the Science Museum has been putting at the forefront for a very long time,” Early said. “We’re a science institution that is centered in equity.”
The museum also offers expert-led tours of the exhibit as well as adult-only nights on Fridays, which include all exhibits currently on display.
‘Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity’
Where: Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul
When: The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday, with the exhibit running through June 1
Tickets: $34.95 (adults), $24.95 (youth ages 4-17) and free for children 4 and under, more information available at smm.org/visit/