My art project concerns the homochirality of amino acids naturally occurring on Earth. All amino acids with the exception of glycine are chiral molecules. This means that each should have a non-superposable mirror image. These non-superposable mirror images are stereoisomers which are called enantiomers. The enantiomers have the same physical and chemical properties with the exception that plane-polarized light that is passed through these molecules will deflect light at the same angle but opposite directions (one on the right, termed dextrorotatory, and one on the left, termed levorotatory). Usually, both the dextrorotatory and levorotatory enantiomers exist for each chiral molecule. However, in the case of amino acids, nearly all the amino acids found naturally on Earth are levorotatory, with the exceptions being in the cell walls of bacteria and in the hydrolysis of certain antibiotics which are dextrorotatory. It is this single chirality (levorotatory only) that has been termed homochirality. This unusual chirality of amino acids on Earth has caused bemusement among the scientific community. It is believed by many scientists that if amino acids existed elsewhere, they could potentially be dextrorotatory, contrary to the chirality of amino acids on Earth.

My art project is a painting that attempts to depict the unusual chirality of amino acids on Earth. My canvas is divided in two. Each half is a non-superposable mirror image of the other half; this represents chirality. However, the two halves of my painting are not exactly identical to each other. The left-hand side shows a landscape with a young girl swimming and a horse. This side represent Earth. The right-hand side is a fantastic version of the left-hand side. In this fantastic version, the young girl swimming has been replaced by a mermaid and the horse has been replaced by a unicorn. On Earth, which is represented by the left-hand side of my painting with a real landscape, the girl swimming and the horse would be composed of proteins. These proteins would be synthesized by amino acids which would all be levorotatory. A mermaid and a unicorn have been chosen to be painted on the right-hand, more fantastic, side of the painting because they are creatures that do not exist. Nevertheless, these creatures can said to be homologous to the girl and the horse, respectively, in the other half of the painting. In a carbon-based planet or world where mermaids and unicorns existed, these creatures would most likely be constituted in part of proteins. These proteins would most probably synthesized using amino acids. There is currently no known reason why these amino acids would be levorotatory rather dextrorotatory. Hence, it is possible that the amino acids synthesizing the proteins making up the mermaid and the unicorn of my painting would actually be dextrorotatory. This is what my painting is attempting to suggest; that in a world different than that in which we live, but that would present a carbon-based life form the way we know it on Earth, amino acids would be dextrorotatory.

My painting was done using acrylic paint compared to other types of paints mostly for simplicity as they dry fast and do not have an unpleasant smell. Also, acrylic paint is relatively versatile because it is very easy to mix colour and colours can be thinned using water, in the same way as watercolours, which can create a variety of tones of the same colours. To add to the fantasy in the right-hand side of my painting, glitters were added to some colours to give the illusion of a world different than planet Earth. The glitters have been incorporated in the painting to highlight further the half of the painting that represents a fantasy world where unicorns and mermaids exist. Nevertheless, despite the differences in the two halves of the painting, the basic landscape in the background is alike on each side of the picture. It is therefore this background that illustrates best the concept of chirality in amino acids in the painting as the background on one side of the painting is a non-superposable mirror image of the other side.

In conclusion, my painting endeavours to symbolize the homochirality of amino acids, that is, the fact that on Earth, amino acids are almost exclusively levorotatory. To do so, chirality is first expressed in my painting in the background which is separated in two, both halves being non-superposable mirror images of each other. Then, the levorotatory aspect of amino acids synthesizing proteins on Earth is seen on the left-hand side of the painting which depicts a landscape as well as the girl swimming and the horse; none of these elements are foreign on Earth. The right-hand side, however, features elements such as the mermaid and the unicorn which are in fact alien to Earth. This side suggests the possibility of dextrorotatory amino acids existing in another world. Overall, this fantastic side of my painting is a symbol of what is yet to discover outside our planet concerning amino acids and the synthesis of proteins.