- Venue
- Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Staff restaurant
- Starts
- Friday, January 15, 2010
- Ends
- Monday, March 15, 2010
- Address
- Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Little France, Edinburgh
- Location
- South East England
The work for the exhibition was developed after a series of sessions using a scanning electron microscope, with support from Dr Allan Prescott and Martin Keirrans of CHIPs and Division of Cell Biology and Immunology, at the School of Life Sciences, Wellcome Trust Building, University of Dundee. I made photographs of diatoms found in sea shells and mollusks picked up on beaches in Ardnamurachan using the microscope. Diatoms are photosynthetic plankton (microscopic algae) found in oceans and freshwater systems. They are a source of nutrients for marine organisms as well as a major producer of oxygen. I am inspired by their patterns and delicacy and the fact that they could have been hidden in these shells and molluscs for long periods of time. Using the electron microscope up to 9000 x magnification, revealed detail completely inaccessible to the naked eye. The drawings are made in hot wax on hand made Japanese paper then colour is applied using ink and watercolour.
