Neuron Forest

I have always been compelled to create work inspired by nature’s geometries, specifically the self-similar branching fractals in our brains: neurons. These discrete nerve cells are composed of dendrites, a series of radiating appendages that gather input from other neurons. I am struck by their visual movement, how they creep as they change form and communicate through neural pathways. These neural circuits interconnect to one another to form a large-scale brain network, creating human consciousness, identity, life as we know it.

Neurons were discovered in 1887 by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, father of modern neuroscience. Since then, researchers have probed and mapped the brain with a vast array of sophisticated methods and technologies, from MRI scanners to molecular devices, unveiling a beguiling architecture. Our perspective on the invisible world of the brain is entirely dependent upon the nature of these hidden processes, exclusively mediated by the technologies we have invented to image what takes place at an almost impossibly small scale, in the dark.

These mediated images reveal chaotic systems and uncanny beauty. Hauntingly, we
observe the brain’s familiar branching fractals in roots, electricity, rivers, and especially biology (passages in the lungs, network of arteries, the nervous system). Intriguingly, in the body, these neural fractals exist between dimensions. They can be considered objects with a dimensionality that is not an integer, meaning they are not three-dimensional like a cube or two-dimensional like a square. By existing between dimensions the fractal networks can reach throughout the body’s volume without filling it up. I investigate these dimensions between through formal exploration and material practice. I seek to give form and understanding to human consciousness using new scanning technologies from neuroscience and the world of design.