This work was presented at 'The Alchemy Experiment' (20/5/25) as part of the Creative Reactions programme, bringing artists and scientists together, organised by Pint of Science. The Creative Reactions team helped me to identify and make contact with a scientist to work with during a two month period. From the shortlisted scientists I selected Dr. Christina Faust because her research into rodent parasites struck a chord with my research interests.
The project began with a face to face meeting with Dr Christina Faust at the department of zoology at Glasgow University. She introduced me to some of her team and on subsequent visits I was able to visit the laboratory, see specimens, view slides under the microscope, hear about her approach to fieldwork and some of the projects she was working on. I was particularly interested in hearing about the impact of climate change and of intensive agriculture on potential 'spillover' of rodent parasites into human populations.
The outcome of this project took the form of a 'wunderkammer' or 'cabinet of curiosities' - a glass fronted wooden box filled with many paper-based items taken from my own research process but which also related to Dr Fausts work. These included a rodent illustration (coloured brown using egg tempera mixed with human skin and hair), rodent 'drawings' (made by rodent nibble marks) and several abstract drawings (made with crafted ink on Whatman scientific filter papers). These were an attempt to find common ground between artistic and scientific approaches to research.
The title 'Para-site' refers then to the subject being researched (rodent parasites), as well as the approach taken - the prefix 'para' comes from Greek, meaning 'alongside'. The site in question here is the cabinet of curiosities box, familiar too in zoological display.
