I have seen many cool interpretations of mutations for this contest.

Well done everyone and congrats Julia for the continuation of such a successful contest, attracting more and more great talent.

Coupled with her Oceans of art curation, @juliakponsford has established herself as an integral cornerstone of the steemit art community.

https://steemit.com/@juliakponsford

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The 49th Art explosion 💥 contest Mutation.

My brain instantly went to mutagen and tmnt with this one.

Splinter, shredder, Mikey, raph, Donnie, Leo, Karai, Baxter stockman, leather head, pigeon Pete, ice-cream kitty. Even April O'Neil is a mutant in the newer series.

My child is obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 🐢🐢🐢🐢

He draws them everyday. I should do a post.
I haven't helped him with a post for a while. He goes by the name @littleblue after the azure of his dad, @azurejasper.

We have 100s of drawings.

I think for a 4 yr old he is very good. But what would I know, I am void of objectivity, I'm his mother.

He is though.

I will put it on my list of things to procrastinate and feel guilty about not completing.

I know way too much about tmnt and as I said, my instinct was to do something along those lines.

But then I saw @pluridimensional's Heterochromia Iridum piece. It is a testament to the beauty of mutation. The reality of mutation. Not X-men or monsters or sci-fi, but human variation.

Please check it out and his other work. He is a very talented and generous artist.
https://steemit.com/art/@pluridimensional/heterochromia-iridum-grafito-y-color-art-explosion-week-49-theme-mutations

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He set me on a different trajectory.

I got looking at genetics and thinking about evolution as well as illness. Mutations of DNA are responsible for both.

I have a genetic disorder that causes pain and mobility problems, so it is something I have done a little bit of reading on and is of interest to me.

But I wanted to look beyond that.

To the traits that we have become accustomed to and even selected (like Heterochromia Iridum) for their aesthetic attributes.

To look at mutations as evolution rather than a deviation from what is considered normal or acceptable.

The term Polymorphisms refers to many traits we perhaps don't consider mutations, but rather variations of normal.

I have included these in my drawing.

Red hair and Blue eyes.

Yep until as recently as 6 to 10 thousand years ago all humans had brown eyes.

A single persons desirable pigment variation is apparently the ancestor of all blue eyed people.

Further reading revealed that even the mutation of eye colour is complex. It is not a simple scenario of blue or brown resulting from recessive or dominant. This recent mutation made way for the great variation of eye colour and shade.

Genetics is far from straight forward, and this was meant to be an artist endeavour not an associate degree in genome.

As I read on I felt less and less informed to write on the subject. Deletions, variations in coding, extra chromosomes, proteins inhibiting pathways heredity, dominance ,recessive, acquired or somatic.

But one thing stuck with me.

Variation is a normal occurrence. They are often associated with illness, for this reason research into this area is vital. I myself hope that my faulty collagen gene that I have given to my children will one day be treatable. But there are many more illnesses worse than mine that I hope are unravelled by gene therapy one day.

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But we must not lose our diversity.

The gene that causes my condition also provides many talented gymnasts, athletes and dancers with their natural flexibility.

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Aesthetics and societal mores do factor into whether we consider a genetic variation, illness and disfigurment or simply difference or even super human quality.

This brought me to the true focus of my drawing.

Gender and gene variations.

Most societies refuse to acknowledge the great number of variations that make up a spectrum of diversity when it comes to male and female.

Most women are 46XX and most men are 46XY.

We as humans are a long way from accepting that there are a vast number of variations to this.

The world health organisation states

A few births per thousand some individuals will be born with a single sex chromosome (45X or 45Y) (sex monosomies) and some with three or more sex chromosomes (47XXX, 47XYY or 47XXY, etc.) (sex polysomies). In addition, some males are born 46XX due to the translocation of a tiny section of the sex determining region of the Y chromosome. Similarly some females are also born 46XY due to mutations in the Y chromosome. Clearly, there are not only females who are XX and males who are XY, but rather, there is a range of chromosome complements, hormone balances, and phenotypic variations that determine sex.
www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html

When a child is born it is announced it's a boy! or it's a girl! The binary code is obligatory.
While variation and ambiguity is not always evident at birth it can be. But there is nowhere for these children and their parents within our social construct.

We have addressed a many number of prejudices regarding difference, yet the topic of gender remains taboo.

To continue to move towards equality and inclusion for all people we need to open our minds to difference.

Everybody has a place.

Every human being is a wonder and a beauty.

Gender is more than the assignment of external parts. It's not even about sex or about who you are attracted to.

Gender is about self.
It's who we are and how we see ourselves, how we relate to the world and identity as we make our way in the world.

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One last feature of my drawing includes Tetrachromacy

Colour vision that is enhanced on the X chromosome and therefore only seen in women. A rare variation produces four types of cone cells in the eye, instead of the regular three which enhances colour vision.

The image includes a representation of the female form on the left and male to the right. These are merged together in one figure. Featuring blue eyes, red hair and a spectrum of colour from the woman's eye.

I thought the rainbow of colours worked well within the theme of equality and inclusiveness too.

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Once again I forgot to take progress shots.

I did get one.

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Well, that little art assignment took me on an unexpected trajectory.
Thanks Julia 💃💃💃💃💃💃

This is offered under Creative Commons.