Project Statement:
Welcome to the Museum of Miniature Science, Poetry and Imagination.
Introspective is the opening exhibit for this (fictional) museum. See composite images of life-sized plants and animals in surreal conversations with hidden, microscopic parts of themselves. The micrographs, in most cases scaled to several times smaller than a pinhead, are enlarged here to become the dominant visual element.
What makes a nettle leaf sting? Why does pollen have complex patterns? What are diatoms made of? Scientific facts aren’t just stacks of information, they are gateways to awe and wonder. Art and poetry give the facts wings.
The museum’s motto is, “Small things rule the world.” Entry is free for anyone willing to slow down and contemplate the value of minute nature’s beauty, metaphors, and mystery.
Photographer’s Note: I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera; the micrographs are made with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). I learned to use the SEM while working on my book, On An Acre Shy of Eternity/Micro Landscapes at the Edge.
Artist Bio:
I’ve always been drawn to close-up views of nature. Most of my work focuses on the complex textures of micro-landscapes. My photographs have been published by National Geographic, TIME, The Week and Lensculture, and they have appeared in galleries and juried shows around the country. In March, 2016, I presented a TEDx talk about my stomata micrographs entitled The Intercourse of Nature: It’s What We Are.
I’m a naturalist, educator, and author of a photography/poetry book entitled, On An Acre Shy of Eternity/Micro Landscapes at the Edge, coming out in May, 2017. Photographer and filmmaker Chris Jordan calls it, “A joyful, deeply insightful multi-scalar love story of verbal and visual poetry.”
