Amy Karle

Amy Karle (born 1980) is an American artist, bioartist, and futurist whose work focuses on the relationship between technology and humanity, specifically how technology and biotechnology impact health, humanity, society, evolution, and the future. Karle combines science and technology with art and is known for using living tissue in her work. Karle has served as an Artist Diplomat through the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, where she led workshops focusing on women's empowerment in STEAM fields. In 2019, she was named one of the BBC's 100 women. Personal life Karle was born in New York in 1980 and grew up in Endicott, NY. Her mother was a biochemist and her father was a pharmacist and Karle has said she "grew up in the lab and in the pharmacy". Karle is an alumnus of the School of Art and Design at Alfred University and Cornell University where she received degrees in Art and Design and Philosophy. Karle was born with a rare condition, aplasia cutis congenita, missing a large region of skin on her scalp and also missing bone in her skull. She underwent a series of experimental surgical procedures as a child. The skin was repaired by tissue expansion surgery that was considered dangerous and experimental at the time that it was performed. This experience impacted her work and desire to heal and enhance the human body and human condition. This early experience also inspired her interest in the links between biology, medical futuring and art.