The inspiration for these images came from trying to visualise the covid 19 viral threat.
Initial photography was done in studio on the light table with strobes and LED lighting. They were shot with the Fujifilm gfx100s with the Fujinon 45mm-100mm f4 and an adapted Nikkor 85mm PCE lens. They were then heavily manipulated in Abobe Camera Raw and Photoshop to arrive at the kind of abstraction was looking for.
Context:
We’ve all seen the bulbous spiky ball artist's impression images of the Corona Virus but this of course is just a visual guide, a helpful conceit. Why do we feel the strong need to visualise this virus? It’s far too small to actually see. I think it’s because we humans we need to visually contextualize things to cope with it. If something remains unknowable or hidden it is much more alarming.
A virus is not a living thing. It is made up of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) enclosed in a protein sheath. It's more like a chemistry set than an organism. Cryo-EM Tomography has shown us a version of it's 'true' form but it is still an artifice. At the scale they exist the analogue's or model’s we usually employ to give meaning to things are just not applicable. There is no direct correlation between what science can describe and what we as humans can visually and intuitively grasp.
But why do we feel such a strong need to envision this virus? Why does it seem necessary for us to give a recognisable form to this bundle of nucleic acids? Is it because of the magnitude of the threat it poses, or is it that we as humans we have a powerful impulse to discern a hidden predator? Before we can contain our anxiety we must attach dimension to it. Craning our necks in the dark we strain to recognise the origin of a sound or the form in the shadows. We seem to need to put a face to the danger. The Double Helix and the Atom are just an artists rendition of phenomena help us intuitively grasp their nature or properties, but they are not accurate. They are surrogates that allow us to comprehend what we cannot actually see. I think as humans we need to visually contexturalise something before we can really process it. If something remains invisible it is unknowable and more terrifying.
Since there is no definitive picture of these malignant phenomena I have created my own. These are my viruses. Each is a kind of portrait of the sinister and unknown. The slick grey of their surface and the red inside hints at the underlying contagion, a fire lit. The name for this series of images is taken from the CRISPR genome editing tool, a crucial technology in the production of antiviral's.