There are entire, beautiful worlds hidden on the microscopic level, beneath the reach of our limited eyesight. With the invention of the microscope back in the late sixteenth century, these unseen dimensions suddenly came into focus, revealing some of the smallest and most detailed secrets of nature.
But microscopes don’t have to be restricted to scientists only. Aiming to push the creative boundaries of this tool is British artist and art, design, and science professor Rob Kesseler, who uses scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to create vibrantly colored and intricate portraits of plant matter like pollen, seeds, and fruit.
Kesseler’s work merges science and art, and is often done in collaboration with botanical scientists and molecular biologists around the world. In using a variety of complex microscopy processes to capture the details of his tiny subjects, Kesseler then brings these subjects to life by adding layers of subtle color. These can then printed out in larger formats to be exhibited—the imperceptible made visible.
As Kesseler explains in Nature, he first got into science via a present from his father, who was an engineer with a more scientific mind, and who knew his son loved observing the natural world around him:
Later on, Kesseler wound up teaching ceramics, and received some funding to explore the links between ceramics and plant research. This opportunity ended up being the one that has defined his creative path ever since:
To create these incredible micrographs (i.e. a photograph taken through a microscope) of plant matter, Kesseler first has to spray the specimens with platinum. This thin layer of metal helps the electrons being fired by the electron microscope to bounce off more smoothly, so that the finer details are more easily detected.
Each image is actually made up of many smaller images, which Kesseler then “stitches” together with software. The stitched image is carefully colorized to highlight its structure and composition.
While some of Kesseler’s work focuses on intact plant components, other work, like this series done with a team of cellular and molecular scientists at the Instituto Ciencia Gulbenkian in Portugal, homes in on the cellular structures of Portuguese wild flora, including a number of rare orchids.
This series uses even higher-than-normal magnification, and utilizes micro-fine sections of stems that are stained to reveal their structures. Some of the images were painstakingly built from hundreds of individual micrographs, and the final large-format images can stretch almost 10 feet across. One can only imagine how impressive it is to be monumentally confronted with the complex beauty of something so small.
Kesseler’s multidisciplinary work ultimately makes the connections between science and art clearer, and he has this to say about why it’s important not to leave the art of observation only to scientists:
To see more, visit Rob Kesseler.
