This pair is finally giving bacteria proper credit as virtuosos of the art world. So often we find that nature conjures up colors, designs, patterns and visions beyond the capability of human hands. The following is a very simplified example of bacteria left to their own devices on film negatives:
(Abridged) artist statement:
The artist has gathered bacteria samples from his own body. The bacterium destroys the film surface producing photographic images that are created by chance. The artist is removed from the process but, still at the same time, they are a product of the artist’s body.
The closest reference to Bacteriograms is the Rorschach inkblot test with black ink on white paper, in which only individual’s perception and psyche dictate the representation of the image, and therefore is supposed to reveal something about the viewer’s subconscious.
Bacteriograms are not even showing the bacterium that was used in the process to create them; they are merely showing traces of bacterial activity. These images are just a piece of degraded and therefore deconstructed film.
These pictures remind me of the mesmerizing film Decasia: The State of Decay in which director Bill Morrisson assembles a collage of film footage collected from deteriorating archives, and completes it with a detuned, decaying soundtrack. (Thanks to Ron for introducing me to this).
SheWalksSoftly 