Diatoms printed on 8 pieces of Glass
Dimensions: 152cm × 51cm × 40cm
Images of Diatoms created using a Scanning Electron Microscope.
SEM-FIB Facility, Institute for Research in Materials, Dalhousie University
2008–2013
Viewtech Direct Digital UV cured Print on Glass.

The series of eight glassworks depicts prints of diatoms that were captured using a scanning electron microscope. These specimens were collected from lakes in Nova Scotia and some of them are similar in morphology to ancient diatoms that predate human existence. The diatoms are single cellular organisms that appear to use an organically formed technology to secrete silica in order to build an enclosure around their cell walls. The shapes of the diatom’s shell are analogous to many of the structural forms found in architecture, and the naturally repeated patterns present in centric diatoms resemble the matrices that are commonly used to archive information. In the glass shells produced by diatoms we see a primordial reflection of contemporary human shelter, and particularly of the protective enclosures that we build to house ourselves, and memories of the past.