–> Click to launch gallery of images taken from Halls Pond in Brookline, MA <–
The word plankton comes from the Greek work planktos, which means ‘drifter’. My Plankton Paintings are created with video of pond water from Halls Pond in Brookline, taken through a light microscope. The video is algorithmically summed, like a long exposure, revealing the trails and paths of myriads of microscopic creatures (plankton) swimming on the slide. I consider these images like automatic drawings or paintings, the plankton create the marks and composition, all happening within a millimeter or less. Chronophotography allows us to see these creatures ‘footprints’, instead of a giant footprint in the dirt, there is a small squiggle. Some dart across the frame in less than a second, others carve slower, helical paths. They are always seeking, striving, looking for food and mates. Plankton are the second most abundant form of life on earth and form the basis of the food chain but are so tiny they’re often overlooked. By visualizing them and celebrating their vitality I hope to raise awareness of the impact humans are having on these unseen beings.
This artwork is personal in that it was how I managed to keep creating during the pandemic. Every week in the warm months of 2020, I would visit Halls Pond with my plankton net and collect, it was almost ritual. With the light microscope in my living room, I was able to gaze at these colorful worlds brimming with life. I am continually fascinated by the swimming behaviors of zooplankton. In my images they appear as abstract art, but each stroke delineates an individual. Rather than a single artist covering one canvas, it is a miniscule canvas of about a millimeter containing multitudes of tiny artists. Are we to think of the plankton as individuals? They certainly appear like they have agency, as demonstrated by their dynamic behaviors and reflexes we can almost relate to. But they are so small, and easily discarded in a few drops of water. At the same time, their sedimentation over time in the ocean is so vast that it created the oil reserves we use today. By zooming in I aim to magnify our actions on this world. Rather than the global scale, the microscale shows us the beauty and intricacy and aliveness of tiny worlds that do not demand our attention because we can’t even see them, invisible worlds that are being disrupted greatly by climate change.
Contact Jess for more info about Plankton Painting workshops in the Northeastern USA.
© Copyright 2023 Jess Holz
