Glorifying Phylogeny

My work Glorifying Phylogeny started with admiration for the drawings of German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in his book "Art Forms in Nature." In this book he illustrated hundreds of organisms, many of which were documented for the first time.

The visual language of Haeckel's illustrations left a strong impression on me. Romanticizing these minuscule beings inspires me. I recognized familiar shapes from everyday life in many of these illustrations. It made me realize that the mind associates unfamiliar things with the familiar to find answers. I find this concept exciting, and I decided to incorporate it into my own interpretation and to study Haeckels research.

In his work he frequently discusses phylogeny: the study of evolutionary relationships and the history of descent of organisms. It describes how one group of organisms has evolved from another group. I found this to be a fascinating phenomenon and decided to apply it myself. I chose five plankton species and used them as puzzle pieces. Each curvature or spike in my work can be traced back to one of those five organisms.

Glorifying Phylogeny is an ever-evolving series of objects created from these five plankton species.