Artist Statement:

I am intrigued by the work of Virologist Dr. Marc Johnson and his renowned work of gathering and testing waste water to discover Covid variants. I visited his lab and researched more about how viruses function to gain a better understanding of this fascinating field.

To begin, I used Kozo fiber (the inner bark of Kozo trees) to form the flow and froth of the water. I used inks to stain this layer. Next, I needle-felted wool “virus particles” to inset into the water background. The bold colors represent the resulting technique used to colorize images from electron microscopy.

Many are concerned with the conservation of the big organisms like trees and elephants. However, much of the unseen world, the microscopic beings, are determinants in the continuing health or destruction of ourselves and our environment.