From the previous days of shooting, I have made a selection of images and arranged them into 3×3 grids.The grid formation reflects the layout of Sol LeWitt’s book Autobiography (1980). I have also masked the images into circles to emulate the Petri dish form and in response to my previous research on circle forms in SciArt.

In this first image, I have grouped together images with repeating patterns and a similar tonal range. Circles come from holes in the wall (empty of filled) as well as nails and squished white tac left overs. The final image is a coffee cup ring on a piano, which stands somewhat apart from the other images that are all on magnolia paint, but the damage from the heat to the dark wood has bleached it to a similar lightness. The difference of the final image seem to act as a ‘full stop’ to the collection of 9. I have resized the images to bring selected objects into focus (some images have more details that have been cropped out) and to make the shapes all complimenting sizes. This creates a balance across the set of 9 images.

In this second image I have started to introduce more colour from the splashes of paint on walls. I have started with images that are a single colour and defined shape, and then as the series progresses more colour and variation is added, until the final 2 images which look like abstract paintings. The image feels to read diagonally from top left to bottom right. A lot of the forms in these images are reminiscent of microbial growths, so I imaging having them as backgrounds in Petri dishes could result in an interesting layered effect.

This final image takes shots that were taken in the storage room next door to our main studio space. I’ve kept them together by room so far, but I could try some different combinations and mix them up to find better relationships between images. There are images from both the walls and the floor here. Most of these images feel bolder than in the previous collection, with a single  colour and strong shape. The clearly defined shapes gave me the  idea to ‘draw’ on top of the image (when it is behind the agar in the Petri dish) using the swab like a paintbrush to trace around the lines. This would add to the layers of the piece: the original object/shape; the photographic rendering; and the swab that traces both the original to take a sample and the photo to inoculate the plate.

I really like these groupings as they sit well together and have a sense of completeness. However, I will try a few more pairings before I settle on a final selection. I would like to see the results of one group of 9 that is very abstract and varied, and another group of 9 that utilities all single colour images and strong shapes. Once I’ve tried a few more options I will chose a final selection of images for my piece, and this will inform how I chose to take swabs and inoculate the plates, e.g. whether I use a particular pattern.