IT'S OFFICIAL: The winner of the 2026 Drosophila Art Commission Contest is Natsuki Nishitomi for her submission, Bilateral Integration!

Introducing Natsuki Nishitomi

Natsuki Nishitomi is a stained-glass artist based in Kyoto, Japan. After studying design at an art university, she trained as a traditional Japanese Karakami craftsman before establishing her career in stained glass. Her work ranges from flat stained-glass pieces to three-dimensional glass frames, including a signature series of stained-glass butterflies modeled after real species.

This artwork was inspired by a dialogue with Dr. Yoichiro Tamori (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), whose research focuses on cancer cell evolution using Drosophila as a model organism. Through their conversation about mosaic mutations in fruit flies, Natsuki became interested in the scientific idea of distinct identities coexisting within a single organism.

It portrays a bilateral gynandromorph Drosophila melanogaster, with the left half representing a white-eye male and the right half a wild-type red-eye female. Through variations in glass texture, color, and light, the work expresses the integration of biological difference into a single harmonious form reflecting both the scientific phenomenon and its broader metaphor for coexistence and unity. Natsuki’s work can be found on Instagram: @scape_glass

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s contest! We appreciate your creativity and contributions to the Drosophila community and look forward to seeing your submissions next year.

Congratulations to Natsuki, and thanks to all the contestants for sharing their work!

The Genesee Scientific/Flystuff Team

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