MoScArt

~Moving Science into Art

One of the delights of visualization is the implicit beauty if imaging – be it scientific or otherwise. Beauty is enhanced by scientific understanding. Even on its own, the symmetry and order of biological imaging can be as breathtaking as a scenic photograph – the mystery in the processes underlying order on microscale can capture and thrill the imagination. Manipulating scientific images, merging the micro and nanoscale with macro imaging can create unexpected visuals – and entertain and please the heart and eye. The colors resulting from light and fluorescent staining techniques, and the black and white contrasts provided by electron microscopic imaging, both provide a territory worth exploring, and boundaries waiting to be moved.

The poetry embedded in scientific phenomena is uncharted territory – both in the description of processes and pathways, and in the relation of science to humanity, with all the joy and pain it holds. Scientists are often viewed as unemotional beings, single minded devotees on the road to both self-fulfillment and self-destruction. The hardship in the pursuit of a truly original idea can be both a blessing and a curse. I think, therefore I am… I am, therefore I feel… Scientists, both men and women, have been driven through the ages by their pursuit of light… of understanding… of the exposure of truth. They have been accused, expelled, assassinated and cursed. The pain of rejection by peers – repudiation of ideas – has led to madness, and a solitude worse than the loneliness of merely being a singular individual. Inspiration from historical figures like the mathematician Hypatia, or an event as simple as having your ideas be presented in public, has led to Poems – some scribblings, or mere endeavors to honest expression. I’ve added some recent Gedigte in Afrikaans, my favored tongue for these reflections.

Some visual explorations are in utero – a few in silico – and the inspiration in vivo, in vitro and in situ.

RECENT POEMS / VER VERSE

Hypatia (370-415 nC)
they knew you were superior
they envied you
while walking through the corridors
of wisdom like a man
uncharted forests in your mind
explorer woman scientist
they pulled you from your chariot
their sneers more wicked than the blows
slow carving of your flesh
until your bones lay white beneath
the scorching sun of Africa
they even took your shells
abalone innocent
shrewd and cruel vindictive
in gods name all difference
must be slain
a saintly task this sacrifice
exterminate obliterate
annihilate your foreign pleasure
and your smile
how dare you be so beautiful
impassioned and so different
how dare you be so wise
but you defied them
still alive
engraved in passages of time
052605

On submitting a presentation to a conference…
look well after my brainchild
lest the siblings of my soul
fall prey unto unable hands
syntaxless minds
or vacant hearts

Scan
I need to find a beacon
navigation point
Polaris or
the Southern Cross
Gibraltar or
a Morro Rock
I need a viewpoint
rationale
perspective
whence to navigate
my scanning of
all innocence
my screening of
sincerity

Stellenbosch virtueel
die klein blou dorpie kruip soos water
op teen heuwels
hooggety stoot oor
stort af in klowe
huisies klou klein mossselskulpe
teen graniet en sandsteen
heinings mure dakke elk ‘n smal
domein oorlewingsniche
teen fel son onverbiddelike
oostewind die ongenaakbaarheid
van afrika
tot seisoene later die koelte
van fynbos en filterson
als groen versag
en raakbaar maak
my vinger teen die monitor
en google earth
my reisgenoot
klein kaap van storms klein berg van hoop
blou dorp van droom blou plek van troos

Waarheen Gehasie?
as ek uit hierdie ballingskap
ontsnap
gaan ek vir ‘n maand op my rug
na die suiderkruis
staar
op my maag oor die vlaktes
tuur
en dan duin-af
na die witperdjies op die bloudam
draf
en kaalvoet skater
lag

Dors
nou verlang ek terug
nie na die vleispotte van ‘n vorige
heidenland
maar na die melk en heuning van
fynbos
boorde, priële met reuse wingerdstokke
en vlaktes
ek treur
by hierdie riviere in Babelse
verwarring
en die bekende klein klippies in my kies
help nie meer teen dié vlak-te se dieper
dors

Huiswaarts
die verlore seun het besluit
om huiswaarts te keer
die oggend toe hy in Safeway staan
met drie skamele peertjies in sy hand
vir drie doller
en die varke van die resessie snuffelend aan sy bankrekening
sy huispaaiement
sy kredietkaartskuld
en toe hy ‘n kaartjie koop vir die lang vlug na sy vaderland
het hy ‘n sms gestuur
spaar die gemeste kalf
en gee dit vir die armes
ek sal gister se oorskiet saam met die outas
by hulle vroegdagvuurtjie eet
as julle my net op die lughawe kan optel
en dan kuslangs vat
met die strandpad tot by
Stellenbosch

Grietjie
ek het iemand nodig om na my kinders te kyk
Eloi
Eloi lama sabagtani
sodat ek bakhand teen die ongenaakbare kosyn
moet aanleun
as die koue skouer van dooiemansdeur
my op my kniee
dwing
waar kom die klipgruis en die duwweltjies vandaan
as ek brandbors ophyg
na waar die vaderhand ‘n vuis bly
en die broodkrummels lankal
deur die wilde bosvoels
verslind is
sodat die voetpaadjie huis toe
dof geword het
en die hekse
my vingerbeentjie
daagliks takseer

Kleintyd. Vir Pappa en Mamma

Muses