The artist Shih Chieh Huang spent almost a year exploring deep-ocean specimens at the National Museum of Natural History. As a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, this assistant had a mission to investigate under water specimens ability to live where humans could not.
Source Messymix
Huang was especially inspired by the under water bioluminescent specimens. So inspired that he created a whole art / light installation about them, The Bright Beneath. With access to scientists, real live specimens and an abundance of knowledge Huang was able to recreate the bioluminescent qualities of these deep water ocean creatures, with a hint of his own artistic interpretation.
"While the constructions are not biological models or reconstructions of the specimens he studied, they represent the creativity and imagination that was sparked by his investigation." – Scientist Lynne Parenti, Curator of Fishes in the Museum's Department of Vertebrate Zoology -
Bioluminescence is an animal's ability to produce and emit light. This will generally happen when the habitat in which the animals live have no light. Evolution has protected these creatures from extinction by helping them to generate their own light. This has been achieved by?ingesting chemicals that react together, the result is a natural light reaction. ?For a good look at Huang's evolutionary process watch the video below.
