This image is one of my favourites from a residency I undertook earlier this year in New York (see previous post). Technically, it's three images, recombined to show cellular structures - the cytoskeleton has been dyed green, mitochondria in red and each nucleus lit up in blue.

Crafting images like these requires access to some pretty sophisticated equipment - an Olympus fluorescent microscope in this case, since you asked, a piece of kit I'm not so secretly coveting now - but far more than that I am indebted to the biotechnology staff (and students!) at JCC for their enthusiasm in sharing their research with me, their seemingly limitless knowledge of the field, and their trust in giving me almost free reign in the labs.

This image presents some interesting lines of inquiry. While these are fairly typical visualisations of cells, to my mind at least, they are also very selective in what they show - each filter reveals a different aspect of the cell, yet there is more invisible to us that isn't revealed by these three wavelengths of light. But in reality our vision is always constrained within a relatively narrow spectrum. There are an abundance of ultraviolet markings on flowers, for example, which insects are able to detect. What else are we missing?

I feel that my fist blog post should be personal.  In time I will be using this space to show what I'm getting up to in the studio or during residencies, record exhibitions, and publish information about other artists working in scientific fields. But for now, something personal.

This is a photo of my DNA. More accurately, genomic DNA isolated from cells in my cheek. It should be appearing on your screen at about life size. It is... remarkably unimpressive. Yet those stringy, lumpy strands nestled in the tips of these two PCR tubes arguably contain more information about me than any photo you'd care to name.

The process of extracting DNA was, likewise, almost disappointingly simple. Given the complexity of the molecule itself, the extraction process could be done in your own kitchen using just a little soap and alcohol, if you're careful. I was fortunate to have access to more precise equipment while artist in residence in the Biotechnology department of Jamestown Community College, NY. But more on that another day. For now, I give you this: my first (and so far only) self portrait.