2013-2014, photographic series, cyanotypes on cotton paper
This work began with an error. Dust in the lab cabinet might have contaminated a sample. Or a specimen might have been discarded and forgotten, and started to develop spontaneously. Perhaps chemical reagents crystalized and obscured prepared tissue or a test subject lost its scientific meaning and started a new life. This series consists of photographs of valuable and worthless artifacts. Those which have a place in the scientific collection are mixed with ones which were contaminated and are now worthless. Some, which were prepared incorrectly, and others, for which the descriptions were lost (in latin: descriptio abest). They share the monochromatic aesthetics, by which research is reduced to a symbolic meaning. A space that escaped scientific understanding is uncovered.
The photographs were executed in cyanotype, first developed in the 19th century to provide scientific documentation of sea algae. Anne Atkins' album British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions is considered to be the first book illustrated with photographic images, thus historically binding photography with science.
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I created this project with support of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the Faculty of Biology of the University of Warsaw (departments of Embryology, Plant Molecular Ecophysiology and Plant Anatomy & Cytology) and the scientific laboratory of the University of Warsaw Botanic Garden. The specimens were made available by scientists working in those institutions. Special thanks to Maciek Rogacki, whose photo of a contaminated specimen became an inspiration for this series.
Exhibitions:
2015 – Infinity of measures, group exhibition, Mona Gallery, 9th Photography Biennale in Poznań (Poland)
2014 – Lapis infernalis group exhibition at the Okno Gallery in Słubice (Poland)
