Victorian Diatom Arrangements

https://imgur.com/gallery/8U70W

I am attracted to the play of symmetry and asymmetry in the image above as well to as the jewel like translucency of these colorful objects that seem to glow against a black background. What it is is incredibly unintuitive is what this is made of and how small it is. Each of the forms contained in this composition is a single celled organism, that has been arranged and viewed through a microscope. A diatom is a kind of micro algae; if you look at the slime that floats on top of ponds and lakes, there will be organisms that look like some of these. Each consists of a single cell that has an intricate internal structure; the artist/scientist in this video below follows an obscure art form developed by early 19th century microscopists during a time before art and science had been surgically separated by disciplinary education. The arrangements were sold as slides as miniature curiosities to be included in the cabinet collections of amateur naturalists. "Diatom arrangements are a stunning example of that particularly Victorian desire to bring order to the world, to display nature in a rational way." from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secretive-victorian-artists-made-these-intricate-patterns-out-of-algae-180952720/#5Civ3j6deULCQJpS.99


The Diatomist from Matthew Killip on Vimeo.