Kim Morgan: Blood Portraits • by Susan Gibson Garvey • 1

Hamilton Arts & Letters       Installed above the elevators on the first floor of the Marion McCain Building (housing Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), nine large discs present images of an essential bodily material: human blood. Magnified up to 12,000 times through the use of scanning electron micros­copy (SEM) they capture a frozen instant in the life of nine individuals’ blood. We observe in detail the forms and structures of red and white blood cells, platelets, and antibodies involved in the processes of delivering oxygen and fending off disease. The high-resolution images reveal a depth and richness of surface, com­plex cellular structures, and compositions that are morphologically reminis­cent of other natural phenomena at different scales: a cascade of antigens like a surge of marine biota; white blood cells resembling coral or spiny sea urchins; red corpuscles like asteroids adrift in the depths of space…    [  >>>>>   FORWARD ]   + [Distillate © HA&L + Susan Gibson Garvey  I  Kim Morgan  {from the Greek bios} -- the course of a life.]