Silica: Celebrating the Unseen

A ‘New View’ museum display at the World Museum Liverpool
(on show next to the main entrance).
From 4th of June 2024 until September 2024.

On this joint display, with a colleague from the MA Art in Science course at LJMU (Liverpool John Moores University, John Lennon school of Arts) we present artworks linked to our research projects where we explore the presence of silica in the natural world.
Silica is a mineral compound with a crystalline structure. In the natural world, it is commonly found as quartz, but many plants contain silica, and it can form the skeletal structures of some microscopic organisms.

With my colleague Samantha Cooper, we used the Botany and Geology collections at the World Museum to study the presence of silica in plants such as horsetail and fossil specimens of micro-sized sea plankton called Radiolaria.

Using microscopes, we were able to observe details and patterns of structures that are invisible to the naked eye.
We created artworks which highlight the intricate structures of each organism and how silica connects them.

The creative process linked to my area of research

I initially came across the radiolaria whilst reading about Ernst Haeckel, the german naturalist who created the best illustrated record of radiolaria of all times. On ‘Art Forms from the Ocean’ Ernst Haeckel captured the natural beauty of these single-celled organisms with their skeletons made of silica. His drawings are rare and a door to the enigmatic existence of these beautiful oceanic forms.

When I went to the World Museum to have a look at the radiolaria microscopic slides back in November 2023, I wasn’t sure how I was going to achieve good pictures of them through the light microscope. I was told the slides have not been touched for a few decades, and I felt quite excited to have the opportunity to unveil them once again. Fortunately enough, the 6 different microscopic slides I had a look at had an array of different radiolaria species, Heliodiscus, Polycistina Lithodhytris Piramidalis, Polycistina Pipetta, among others and I managed to capture good quality pictures of them which I digitally edited afterwards (not to edit the shape of radiolaria itself, but by polishing the background and erasing surrounding elements non relevant to the main figures). I was happy with the results and printed 3 examples of these to show at the museum display.

In regards to my particular MA research project, I explore human connection with nature and how by engaging with the unseen aspects of nature we can not only feel inspired but tune into the silent, symbiotic conversations that happen in the natural world. Examples of these conversations are the record keeping of past geological ages (through organisms such as radiolaria), how organisms offset carbon from the atmosphere, among other complex and life-enhancing processes.

By understanding the symbiotic relationships between organisms and the planet, I hope we can feel more connected.
Following this framework, I am presenting on the museum display a 3D model version of radiolaria and some of the pictures of the microscopic slides I took with my camera using the light microscope.

Radiolaria and silica
These single celled organisms have skeletons made of silica. They live in the oceans and play an important role in the Earth's carbon-oxygen cycle. Radiolaria also hold significant clues as to the evolution of life on Earth; in Darwin's words: ''from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved''.

The museum display collaboration

My colleague's research area is botany, with a focus on plant preservation as well as medicinal plants. My research area is human connection with nature, and within this, one of the key aspects is highlighting the importance of celebrating the unseen aspects of nature.

With both research areas in mind and in the quest to find a common thread to both of our research topics, after long hours of research I was pleased to find that the chemical compound Silica is both present in plants as well as in radiolaria.

Using this common thread, we developed research around the subject of Silica and produced 3D objects inspired from the Botany and Geology collections we consulted at the World Museum in Liverpool.

Using art-science visualisation techniques, we explored silica at a cellular level using microscopic equipment to create engaging 2D and 3D prints. The single cell structure of Radiolaria, with its simplicity, it also represents high levels of complexity in terms of the type of information it can provide about past climate and oceanographic conditions. The unique multicellular structure and pattern in Horsetail (Equisetacae) provides a potential “fossil fingerprint” of the developmental regulation of ancient plants. The project aims to visualise the unseen element silica and celebrate its wonderful natural capacities as well as the aesthetically pleasing imagery.

Silica is a ubiquitous and often an overlooked element that shines a light in resilient structures of our planet, and of ourselves. Silica makes the grounds we stand on strong (is found in stones, rocks, sand and clay), helps plant resilience, is present in the food we eat, even in our bones, joints and skin providing strength and flexibility. Silica also opens the door to the understanding of evolution through ocean living organisms such as Radiolaria. It is also used in herbal medicines to promote bone strength through the use of plants such as Horsetail (Equisetacae).

References:
Cooper, S. Mindful Garden [online] Available at: https://www.mindfulgardenproject.co.uk
Haeckel, E. (2005). Art Forms from the Ocean. Prestel.