What happens when the worlds of art and science merge? In the case of these brilliant images from microbiologist come artist Zachary Copfer, the result is some surprisingly different photography. Over the past 4 years he has diligently worked on creating a technique for exposing photographic images in petri dishes – using a process much like dark room developing.
“As a former microbiologist recently turned visual artist, I seek to create work that is less of an intersection of art and science and more of a genuine fusion of the two” says Copfer. “I believe that great beauty and poetry reside within the theories woven by scientists. And that it is through the unification of art and science that these treasures can be fully explored and made accessible to the world at large.”
To create the images Copfer uses either a petri dish coated with a living E. coli bacteria genetically modified to express GFP, or Serratia marcescens bacteria. He then exposes the dish like photographic paper, only in this case the enlarger has been replaced by a radiation source.
The resulting images, being created out of dots of various sizes and densities, are reminiscent of halftone images from a newspaper. His first series My Favorite Scientists, features the heads of famous world changing scientists (with a nod to Picasso’s almost scientific approach to advancing art), while his latest series Star Stuff features a hanging universe of smaller petri dishes filled with glowing galaxy imagery. Find more of his images at his cleverly titled website Science to the Power of Art.
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