Other Work
This is a series of 10 etchings inspired by Herman Rorschach's original 10-card inkblot test. Each print consists of combinations of 17th century etchings which represented some of the first empirical explorations of the inner body, a hitherto completely unknown inner space . Prints during this period represented the world-wide opening up of the world of medical research (and artistry) to the true content of the body. This resulted from loosening of religious strictures and taboo against human dissection in religious communities starting in the 15th century (though the Greeks were exploring the inner body as of 300BC only to have the practice banned by the Romans). Each piece consists of a bilaterally symmetrical or mirrored image that itself is an abstraction created through combinations of up to 20 vintage medical illustrations. All reference material was taken from the Ebling Medical Library at University of Wisconsin-Madison. On the right side, through technical, photorealistic illustration techniques, I have created a mirror image of the appropriated materials that are on the left side, and created an original drawing on the right side representing a continuity between the endeavors of these first scientific and artistic pioneers who fought so hard to learn more about what it is to be human and our modern world.