Mapping the Microscopic

Chloe Reeve, Hobart City High School

In collaboration with Luke Brokensha, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, IMAS

Artist’s Statement

The scientific research I’ve had the privilege of representing is the mapping of plankton in the Southern Ocean. Luke, the scientist I was paired with, uses an instrument called the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) which uses extremely fine silk to capture plankton in different sectors of the sea. With the data he collects, he’s able to chart where different plankton can be found and how it correlates to the mapping done 30 years ago, and how climate change and other large benefactors are changing the plankton’s patterns. 

The area of Luke’s research I focused on was his work with the Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba). The Antarctic Krill is one of the most important creatures of the Southern Ocean. Krill is a species of zooplankton – they’re at the base of the southern ocean’s food chain, and the tiny creatures play a big role in CO2 mitigation. With climate change impacting their swarms, distribution, and abundance, it can lead to devastating impacts for not only the Antarctic seas, but the world overall – which is why it’s so important for people like Luke to document what’s happening and be able to create more understanding around it. Through my art piece, I hope to make the viewer just that little bit more curious about the tiny organisms and the research behind them.

I created this artwork in the image of an Antarctic Krill with a length of silk behind it to portray the way plankton are captured in the CPR. I used wire bent to create a frame, and glued kozo paper over the top in different patterns and sizes. I then placed a ball of fairy lights covered in cellophane inside the frames ‘stomach’ to depict the stomach of an Antarctic Krill, which turns red after they’ve eaten phytoplankton. 

I’ve been so lucky to be a part of this CoLab experience, being able to learn what it’s like to work as a scientist and learning about such an important factor of the ocean I’ve before thought too small to be so consequential. I hope my learning inspires you to learn a little more about the organisms in our oceans too.

Photographer: OI Studios

Description: I created this artwork in the image of an Antarctic Krill with a length of silk behind it to portray the way plankton are captured in the CPR. I used wire bent to create a frame, and glued kozo paper over the top in different patterns and sizes. I then placed a ball of fairy lights covered in cellophane inside the frames ‘stomach’ to depict the stomach of an Antarctic Krill, which turns red after they’ve eaten phytoplankton.