Ghost

Ghost, (2023) 2:44min, single channel video with audio. Music © Hanna Lindgren and Rand Aldo, 'Monument that will be forgotten' (https://www.epidemicsound.com/)

CT Scan: ANU Centre for Advanced Microscopy, CT-Lab.
Drishti, volume rendering and exploration open source software: Dr Ajay Limaye, Vizlab, ANU.

In Ghost, we observe a waratah flower rotating on a central axis in a deep, blue digital space. This species of plant endemic to the New South Wales region is scientifically identified as Telopea speciosissima. The common name waratah derives from the Eora language, spoken by the traditional custodians of the Sydney region, whose word, ‘waranda’ means both ‘beautiful’ and ‘seen from afar’. In this work you are watching an exact three-dimensional digital copy of a real waratah - it has not been built with mesh frames or rendered in CGI. In Ghost, this flower exists in a virtual world far removed from its natural habitat. In my artistic practice, I investigate scientific computational technologies to capture and visualise microscopic phenomena with 3D Micro-CT. As the raw, volumetric data derives from X-ray it retains none of the flower’s colouring, yet every pixel is verisimilitude of the original. I visualise the material data by manipulating its material density and lighting, made possible by an open software visualisation tool called Drishti. The final animation, accompanied by the music score by Hanna Lindgren and Rand Aldo, explores the exquisite structure of the waratah fluorescence which is a complex arrangement of hundreds of smaller, individual flowers. Ghost alludes to the physical world in which we live, where natural habitats are increasingly disappearing. A continuing theme arising in my work is the complex human relationships we have with nature and our natural environments, whether through social, cultural, or technological factors. Ghost reflects on a techno-scientific society where people are more likely to experience nature and be moved by it through their electronic device.