caleb charland’s biographs

Mysterious and immensely colourful, Caleb Charland‘s photographic images created by bacteria just makes sense.

The “Bacteria” project was conceived when Charland’s curiosity led him to relinquish control of the image-making process by introducing bacteria to his film. By consuming the gelatin emulsion and re-depositing and repositioning the image particles, the bacteria create patterns and shapes, not dissimilar to those left behind by other natural processes. These remarkable images are a biograph, evidence of a bacterial life cycle, an index of existence.