Günes Isitan / artist-researcher in biomedia arts

The idea for "The Species Barrier: A Histological Sample" came from current researches about virus and prions: those affecting our actions and emotions by acting on our brain, and those being exchanged across species. To express these relations, I grew (non-pathogenic) microorganisms from a veal brain, and shaped the growths into a human one. Next, to heighten the medical aesthetics, I recreated the contours and veins from a human brain cross section and superimposed them on the digitized image of the veal brain's growths.

For the microbiological part (growth), I used a special technique I developed by combining the tools and techniques of the medical and photographic laboratories: the images are created though the biological potential of the photographic film in contact with life rather than with light.  This way, I "grow" an image on a negative rather than "take" a picture, thus blurring the lines between representation and reality.