Aspergillus as Beautiful Art Pieces - Aspergillus and Aspergillosis

Submitted by Aspergillus Administrator on 16 June 2011

Aspergillus flavus by Fiona Hepburn

Fiona Hepburn’s work (currently being exhibited by Hemingway) is strongly anatomical. She recreates extraordinary detailed pieces featuring fungi, lichen and marine and terrestrial plants, all of which are made from cut-worked paper.


Aspergillus fumigatus by Fiona Hepburn

In Aspergillus Fumigatus Fungus I (le) as in other pieces she works in exquisite detail to create tiny components by screen printing her paper and then cutting out minute sections to mount on pins, thus creating a layered vibrant work.

Constructing the work

Quoting the artist : I have always had a tendency to make sculptural work, I find it difficult to make a print and leave it untouched. I’m always eager to pierce holes, emboss the surface or cut with a scalpel. As a printmaker I am interested in the construction and reconstruction of prints. I see the potential to ‘reproduce’ images – like nature’s ability to regenerate; it is the force of controlling impermanence. Printmaking is a reproduction process; it is a way of making a multiple, a way of reproducing an image over and over again.

The final images I produce are one-off pieces, made up of thousands of multiples. Each tiny ‘spore’ is printed using hand drawn stencils exposed on to a screen. The screenprinted spores are printed on to fragile Japanese paper. I reproduce the spores until I have thousands of them, often in variations of colours and tones. Each tiny ‘spore’ is hand cut with a scalpel and attached to a pin. I construct the work by pushing these pins in to a background image either made through screenprint or woodcut. It allows me to control the growth of the image, allowing for different parts of the image to be seen at different levels. Making the work is like watching the cells of growing mould multiply. The labour intensive, obsessive process is an integral part of my practice. The cutting and piercing is irreversible and destructive, and it mimics the precarious, fragile state of the natural world.


Spores by Fiona Hepburn

Hepburn is holding a tempting ‘come and make’ session on the afternoon of July 3, where, under her tutelage, one can create one’s own screen print and cut work.

The exhibition is at HEMINGWAYART, Cassington, Oxford, UK and open Thursday to Sunday 2-7pm continuing till July 3.