Interdisciplinary Approaches 1
- katieiwatk
- Jan 12, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 18, 2024
Biology and Art
Biology, “the study of living organisms, divided into many specialized fields that cover their morphology, physiology, anatomy, behaviour, origin, and distribution” - Oxford Languages definition.
My understanding of anything to do with biology is limited, in high school science I was always drawing.. Sometimes the drawings would even be science themed, what started as a cell would somehow become a village of funny shaped houses or speed distance calculations became car doodles. So when I started looking into biological research methods and practices, it’s no real surprise that I only really focused on the shapes and colour aspects.
So here’s the key things I’ve learnt.. And how they quickly became art centred!
Related to Microscopy, “every image embodies a way of seeing”. The picture this was about is a series of grey circles with a disconnected black x in the middle, which shows the structure of a molecule. Art simplified is just shapes and shades creating a bigger picture, like biologists use to display findings and research.
DNA is another example of shapes being used to represent technical information. It shows the genetic makeup of people and is visually represented by a helix, 2 spiralling lines connected by parallel lines. The meaning of this shape is who you are as a person, who you were and who you will be. Here is a clear example of a crossover between art practice and biology as this diagram was originally drawn by Odile Crick, an artist. Using shapes and patterns to visually represent technical information.
DNA represents living beings. For this reason I chose to mimic the twisted shape within a design about another science study, the exploration of liquid breathing within mammals (a rat). When I heard about the cruelty involved I began drawing a more comfortable situation for the rat, diving gear to keep the oxygen in air form! Creating the sense that it was there by choice.
The Reality of this experiment is that it put unnecessary stress on the animal until it died. In response to this I re-drew rats on acetate. One inside of green circles, one wrapped up with the DNA helix. I chose these shapes as, in biology, they’re linked to living characteristics- Cells and DNA. By doing this it acknowledges life of the animal and links this animal and experiment to biological advancements.
After this, I transferred these designs into Adobe Illustrator and created a sticker format. The aim here is to represent the continuous use and abuse of animals for our benefit. Awareness of animal testing in different locations.
Bio-artist Anna Dumitriu, is an example of an artist creating unique work inspired by biological approaches. Her aim was to “question what materials are acceptable in a museum environment”, by scanning microbes (the things that can eat away at art) and creating marble carvings of the microbes in response. The next step is to paint, apply bacteria and yeast back onto the surface and monitor changes. The hope is to control and better understand the process of decay to prevent further damage. The combination of this bacteria and artwork could preserve pieces within a museum setting.
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