Diorama 1

Diorama 1 was commissioned by the Beales Group Research Team at the University of Leeds. The brief was to respond to their research into anticancer peptides, research which could in the future form the basis for development of novel cancer treatments. The artwork commission was funded by the EPSRC as a way to engage members of the public with this research and to excite people about scientific research in general. The piece is now on permanent display at St James' University Hospital in their new Clinical Research Facility.

At the start of this project, I spent time at the team's labs in Leeds, and the final piece references many of the scientific phenemena and research practices that I learned about while I was with them. Diorama 1 is inspired by the research process itself, as well as the science, and it features images and text from the research project at different stages of its development. The 'diorama' referred to in the title of the artwork relates to the historic practice of museums of setting natural history exhibits against a background of their natural habitat - for me, this piece is a 'natural history' of a specific scientific research project.

You can find out more about the groundbreaking work of the Beales Research Group here. And you can read an account of several stages of the development of this artwork at my blog, Glass Bodies.