Elzbieta Kurowska: Light Forms

Photographer's Profile:
Elzbieta Kurowska is a Canadian photographer and a biochemist. In her works she implements her science background to explore and visualize overpowering forces that compel the natural world to create life. Her works have been presented at several national and international exhibitions and have won a number of photography awards. One of her images has been shortlisted for the 2017 Sony WPO Award

Project Description:
This series has evolved from my long lasting interest in photography and from my passion for life sciences. I started photo-based art project ‘Light Forms’ after stumbling across an old, long forgotten visualisation technique from the field of material science. The technique uses polarized light to visualise stresses in solid, transparent materials subjected to deformations. I realised that modifying this approach to use organic gels – a softer and more malleable material – presented me with a medium of enormous artistic potential. Using my biochemistry lab skills, I started experimenting. I have since discovered and applied diverse methodologies that transform amorphous, translucent organic gels into colorful, luminescent, three-dimensional compositions resembling living organisms.